


^°-'*.. --^ 









'-^Uo? « 






^6^ 






^-.s^* ♦ 


















^-./ * 









^; -.HO, 



• '^V* 












.•^• 






Cv * 



V . P 1 • <»• '^ 









^" /^K\ «^ .^^^^Ava%*^^^. .^"^'y^^^. V .^^ 






%. 



,0^ ofV*^ 



<». 



^o 







1^ 







^^^ 




9' vL*rL% ^^ 



0*".'-.>o -^ 



• "*^o^ o^ 



*- O 












^^^ J>' ^!tf^#?^ 



^!^i:.. ^^. >•' *!i^^te:^ 



^' 



Iberoes ot tbe BaUons 

EDITED BY 

"to, TXH. C. Davis 



FACTA DUCI8 VIVENT, 0PER08AQUE 
GLORIA RERUM GvID, IN LIVIAM, «55. 

THE HERO'S DEEDS AND HARD-WON 
FAME SHALL LIVE. 



CHARLES THE BOLD 




CHARLES THE BOLD OF BURGUNDY C1433-1477) 

(from MS. STATUTE BOOK OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE, VIENNA) 
PAINTED BETWEEN 1518-1531 



Charles the Bold 

LAST DUKE OF BURGUNDY 
i43?-'477 



BY 

RUTH PUTNAM 

Author of "' William thb Silent," " A Medieval Princess," etc. 



G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

NEW YORK AND LONDON 

Ube mnicl?etboc]fter press 

1908 



ILIBRARY of OONS'SiESSS 
fl Two Copies Hetdi? j. 

FEB 19 1908 
i 



Copyright 1908, 

BY 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 



Ube ftnfckerbocfter press* l^ew Igorlt 



PREFACE 

THE admission of Charles, Duke of Burgundy 
into the series of Heroes of the Nations, is 
justified by his relation to events rather than by 
his national or his heroic qualities. "IZ n' avail 
pas assez de sens ni de malice pour conduire ses 
entreprises,'' is one phrase of Philip de Commines 
in regard to the master he had once served. Ren- 
der sens by genius and malice by diplomacy and the 
words are not far wrong. Yet in spite of the 
failure to obtain either a kingly or an imperial 
crown, the story of those same unaccomplished 
enterprises contains the germs of much that has 
happened later in the borderlands of France and 
Germany where the projected "middle kingdom" 
might have been erected. A sketch of the duke's 
character with its traits of ambition and short- 
comings may therefore be placed, not unfitly, 
among the pen portraits of individuals who have 
attempted to change the map of Europe. 

The materials for an exhaustive study of the 
times, and of the participants in the scenes thereof, 
are almost overwhelming in quantity. Into this 
narrative, I have woven the words of contem- 
poraries when these related what they saw and 
thought, or at least what they said they saw or 
thought, about events passing within their sight 
or their ken. The veracity attained is only that 



iv Preface 

of a mosaic of bits, each with its morsel of truth. 
And the rim in which these bits are set is too 
slender to contain all the illumination necessary. 
The narrative is, of necessity, partial and frag- 
mentary, for a complete story would require a 
series of biographies presented in parallel columns. 
My own preliminary chapter to this book — a 
mere explanation of the presence of the dukes 
of Burgundy in the Netherlands — grew into an 
account of a sovereign whom they deposed and 
was published under the title of A MedicBval 
Princess. 

John Foster Kirk gave 17 13 pages to his record 
of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. Forty 
years have elapsed since that publication appeared 
and a mass of interesting material pertinent to the 
subject has been given out to the public, while 
separate phases of it have been minutely discussed 
by competent critics, so that at every point 
there is new temptation for the biographer to 
expand the theme where the scope of his work 
demands brevity. 

In using the later fruit of historical investi- 
gation, it is delightful for an American to find 
that scholars of all nations do justice to Mr. 
Kirk's accuracy and industry even when they 
may differ from his conclusions. It has been 
my privilege to be permitted free access to this 
scholar's collection of books, and I would here 
express my deep gratitude to the Kirk family for 
their generosity and courtesy towards me. 



Preface v 

After some preliminary reading at Brussels and 
Paris and in England, the work for this volume 
has been completed in America, where the op- 
portunity of securing the latest results of research 
and criticism is constantly increasing, although 
these results are still lodged under many roofs. 
I have had many reasons to thank the librarians 
of New York, Boston, and Washington, and also 
those of Harvard, Columbia, and Cornell uni- 
versities for courtesies and for serviceable aid; 
and just as many reasons to regret the meagreness 
of what can be put between two covers as the 
gleanings from so rich a harvest. 

One word further in explanation of the use 
of Bold. The adjective has been retained simply 
because it has been so long identified with 
Charles in English usage. I should have pre- 
ferred the word Rash as a better equivalent for 
the contemporary term, applied to the duke in 
his lifetime, — le temeraire. 

R. P. 

Washington, D. C, 1908. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

CHAPTER I 
CHILDHOOD . I 

CHAPTER II 
YOUTH 24 

CHAPTER III 
THE FEAST OF THE PHEASANT .... 45 

CHAPTER IV 
BURGUNDY AND FRANCE . . . . . 67 

CHAPTER V 
THE COUNT AND THE DAUPHIN . . , , S6 

CHAPTER VI 
THE WAR OF PUBLIC WEAL I09 

CHAPTER VII 
LIEGE AND ITS FATE I30 

CHAPTER VIII 
THE NEW DUKE I54 

CHAPTER IX 

THE UNJOYOUS ENTRY 170 

vii 



viii Contents 

CHAPTER X 

PAGE 

THE duke's marriage 183 

CHAPTER XI 

THE MEETING AT PERONNE . . . . . I97 

CHAPTER Xn 
AN EASY VICTORY 227 

CHAPTER Xin 
A NEW ACQUISITION 244 

CHAPTER XIV 
ENGLISH AFFAIRS 26 1 

CHAPTER XV 
NEGOTIATIONS AND TREACHERY .... 293 

CHAPTER XVI 
GUELDERS 320 

CHAPTER XVII 
THE MEETING AT TREVES 339 

CHAPTER XVIII 
COLOGNE, LORRAINE, AND ALSACE . . . 362 

CHAPTER XIX 
THE FIRST REVERSES . . . . . . 382 

CHAPTER XX 
THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1475 ^^D I476 . . . 402 

CHAPTER XXI 
THE BATTLE OF NANCY . . . , . 427 



Contents 



IX 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 
INDEX . 



PAGE 
469 




ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 

CHARLES THE BOLD, DUKE OF BURGUNDY FronttSpiece , 
From MS. statute book of the Order of the Golden 
Fleece at Vienna. The artist is unknown. Date 
of the codex is between 1518 and 1565. This 
portrait is possibly redrawn from that attributed 
to Roger van der Weyden. That, however, 
shows a much stronger face. 

PHILIP THE GOOD AS FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF 

THE GOLDEN FLEECE 4 

From a reproduction of a miniature in MS. at Brus- 
sels. 

A DUKE OF BURGUNDY AND THE POPE AT AVIGNON 1 6 
From a contemporary miniature reproduced in 
Petit's Hist, de Bourgogne. 

PHILIP THE GOOD, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, AS PATRON 

OF LETTERS 1 8 

From a reproduction of part of a miniature in a 
beautiful MS. copyin Brussels Library of Jacques 
de Guise's Annales. The author is depicted 
presenting his book to the duke, who is attended 
by his son and his courtiers. The miniature is 
attributed by turns to Roger van der Weyden , to 
Guillaume Wijelant or Vrelant, and to Hans 
Memling. 



xii Illustrations 



PAGE 

A CASTLE IN BURGUNDY 24 

From Petit's Hist, de Bourgogne. 

FRONTISPIECE OF A XVTH CENTURY ACCOUNT BOOK 30 

COUNT OF ST. POL AND HIS JESTER .... 46 
From reproduction of a miniature in Barante, Les 
dues de Bourgogne. 

THE STATUE OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY AT INNS- 
BRUCK dZ 

LOUIS XL . . . . . . . .84 

From an engraving by A, Boilly after a drawing by 
G. Boilly. 

PHILIP AND CHARLES OF BURGUNDY . . , lOO 

From a drawing in a MS. at Arras. 

BATTLE OF MONTL'hERY (jULY i6, 1465) . . 124 

From a contemporary miniature reproduced in 
Comines-Lenglet. 

LOUIS XL WITH THE PRINCES AND SEIGNEURS OF THE 

WAR OF THE PUBLIC WEAL .... I28 

From a contemporary miniature reproduced in 
Comines-Lenglet. 

ANTHONY OF BURGUNDY ..... 150 

After Hans Memling, Dresden Gallery. 

CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, PRESIDING OVER A 

CHAPTER OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE 1 88 
From reproduction of a miniature in MS. at 
Brussels. 

PHILIP DE COMMINES 2IO 

OLIVIER DE LA MARCHE 232 

From sketch in MS. at Arras reproduced in 
Memoires couronnh de Vacad. royale de Belgique^ 
xlix. 



Illustrations xiii 



PAGE 

MARY OF BURGUNDY 250 

From a contemporary miniature reproduced in 
Barante, Les dues de Bonrgogne. 

MAP OF ALSACE AND ADJACENT TERRITORIES . 260 

From Toutey, Charles le Ume'raire. 

MEDAL OF CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY . . 280 

BURGUNDIAN STANDARD CAPTURED AT BEAUVAIS 31O 

ARNOLD, DUKE OF GUELDERS 322 

From engraving by G. Robert in Comines-Lenglet. 

MARY OF BURGUNDY ...... 336 

After design by C. Laplante. 

CHARLES THE BOLD 34O 

Idealised by P. P. Rubens, Vienna Gallery. (By 
permission of J. J. Lowy, Vienna.) 

MAXIMILIAN OF AUSTRIA . . . . . 350 

Medal. 

A FORTIFIED CHURCH IN BURGUNDY . . . 382 

From Petit's Hist, de Bourgogne, 

KING RUHMREICH AND HIS DAUGHTER EHRENREICH 406 

(These characters in Maximilian's poem of Theuer- 
dank represent Charles and Mary of Burgundy.) 
From a reproduction of a wood engraving by 
Schaufelein in edition of 15 17. 

A PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF MORAT .... 422 
Used by kind permission of Miss Sophia Kirk and 
J. B. Lippincott Company. 

PHILIBERT, DUKE OF SAVOY 43° 

After a design by Matthey reproduced in Comines- 
Lenglet. 



XIV 



Illustrations 



PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF NANCY .... 

Used by kind permission of Miss Sophia Kirk and 
the J. B. Lippincott Company. 

PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF NANCY .... 
From contemporary miniature reproduced in 
Comines-Lenglet. 

A MONUMENT ON THE BATTLEFIELD AT NANCY 
From Barante, Les dues de Bourgogne, 

THE TOMB OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY 
Church of Notre Dame, Bruges 



PAGE 

432 



434 

436 

460 




CHARLES THE BOLD 



CHARLES THE BOLD 



CHAPTER I 

CHILDHOOD 
1433-144O 

ON St. Andrew's Eve, in the year 1433, the good 
people of Dijon were abroad, eager to catch 
what ghmpses they might of certain stately func- 
tions to be formally celebrated by the Duke of 
Burgundy. The mere presence of the sovereign 
in the capital of his duchy was in itself a gala event 
from its rarity. Various cities of the dominions 
agglomerated under his sway claimed his atten- 
tions successively. His residence was now here 
and now there, without long tarrying anywhere. 
His coming was usually very welcome. In times 
of peaceful submission to his behest, the city of 
his sojourn reaped many advantages besides 
the amusement of seeing her streets alive beyond 
their wont. In the outlay for the necessities and 
the luxuries of the peripatetic ducal court, the 
expenditures were lavish, and in the temporary 
commercial activity enjoyed by the merchants, 
the fact that the burghers' own contributions to 



2 Charles the Bold 

this luxury were heavy, passed into temporary 
oblivion. 1 

This autumn visit of Philip the Good to Dijon 
was more significant than usual. It had lasted 
several weeks, and among its notable occasions 
was an assembly of the Knights of the Golden 
Fleece for the third anniversary of their Order. 
On this November 30th, Burgimdy was to wit- 
ness for the first time the pompous ceremonials 
inaugurated at Bruges in January, 1430. Three 
years had sufficed to render the new institution 
almost as well known as its senior English rival, 
the Order of the Garter, which it was destined to 
outshine for a brief period at least. Its founda- 
tion had formed part of the elaborate festivities 
accompanying the celebration of the marriage of 
Philip, Duke of Burgundy, to Isabella of Portugal. 
As a signal honour to his bride, Philip published 
his intention of creating a new order of knight- 
hood which would evince ''his great and perfect 
love for the noble state of chivalry." 

Rumour, indeed, told various tales about the 
duke's real motives. It was whispered that a 
certain lady of Bruges, whom he had distinguished 

1 The indefatigable Gachard has published an itinerary of 
Philip the Good, so far as he could make it. {Collection des 
voyages des souverains des Pays Bas, {., 71.) Unfortunately, 
owing to the destruction of papers, only a few years are 
complete. Between 1428-1441, there is nothing. But the 
itinerary for 1441 and for other years shows how often the 
duke changed his residences. Sometimes he is accompanied 
by Madame de Bourgogne, sometimes by M. and Madame de 
Charolais. 



Childhood 3 

by his attentions, was ridiculed for her red hair 
by a few merry courtiers, whereupon PhiHp de- 
clared that her tresses should be immortally hon- 
oured in the golden emblem of a new society.^ 
But that may be set down as gossip. Philip's 
own assertion, when he instituted the Order of 
the Golden Fleece, was that he intended to create 
a bulwark 

' ' for the reverence of God and the sustenance of our 
Christian faith, and to honour and enhance the noble 
order of chivalry, and also for three reasons hereafter 
declared; first, to honour the ancient knights . . . ; 
second, to the end that these present .... may exer- 
cise the deeds of chivalry and constantly improve; 
third, that all gentlemen marking the honour paid 
to the knights will exert themselves to attain the 
dignity." ^ 

The special homage to the new duchess was 
expressed in the device 

Aultre n'aray 
Dame Isabeau tant que vim ay ^ 

This pledge of absolute fidelity to Dame Isabella 
was, indeed, utterly disregarded by^the bride- 
groom, but in outward and formal honour to her 
he never failed. 

The new institution was, from the beginning, 
pre-eminently significant of the duke's magnifi- 

i It was also said that the woollen manufactures of Flan- 
ders were denoted by the emblem of the golden fleece. 

2 Reiffenberg, Histoire de VOrdre de la Toison d'Or, p, j^xi, 

3 Hi^t. de VOrdre, etc., p. i. 



4 Charles the Bold 

cent state existence, wherein his Portuguese con- 
sort proved herself an efficient and able helpmeet. 
Again and again during a period of thirty years, 
rich in diplomatic parleying, did Isabella act as 
confidential ambassador for her husband, and 
many were the negotiations conducted by her to 
his satisfaction.! 

But it must be noted that whatever lay at the 
exact root of Philip's motives when he conceived 
the plan of his Order, the actual result of his found- 
ation was not affected. He failed, indeed, to 
bring back into the world the ancient system of 
knighthood in its ideal purity and strength. 
Rather did he make a notable contribution to its 
decadence and speed its parting. What was 
brought into existence was a house of peers for 
the head of the Burgundian family, a body of 
faithful satellites who did not hamper their chief 
overmuch with the criticism permitted by the 
rules of their society, while their own glory added 
shining rays to the brilliant centre of the Bur- 
gundian court. 

Twenty-five, inclusive of the duke, was the 
original number appointed to form the chosen 
circle of knights. This was speedily increased 

» All the Burgundian embassies were not as patent to the 
public as were Isabella's. An item like the following from 
the accounts of 1448-49 whets the reader's curiosity: 

' ' To Jehan Lanternier, barber and varlet of the chamber, 
for delivering to a certain person for certain causes and for 
secret matters of which Monseigneur does not wish further 
declaration to be made, 53 pounds 17 sous." 

(Laborde, Les Dues de Bourgogne, etc., "Preuves," i. xlii.) 




PHILIP THE GOOD 



Childhood S 

to thirty-one, and a duty to be performed in the 
session of 1433, was the election of new members 
to fill vacancies and to round out the allotted 
tale. 

In their manner of accomplishing the appointed 
task, the new chevaliers had, from the outset, 
evinced a readiness to cast their votes to the satis- 
faction of their chief, even if his pleasure directly 
conflicted with the regulations they had sworn to 
obey. No candidate was to be eligible whose 
birth was not legitimate, ^ a regulation quite ig- 
nored when the duke proposed the names of his 
sons Cornelius and Anthony. For his obedient 
knights did not refuse to open their ranks to 
these great bastards of Burgundy, who carried a 
bar sinister proudly on their escutcheon. So, too, 
others of Philip's many illegitimate descendants 
were not rejected when their father proposed 
their names. 

Again, it was plainly stipulated that the new 
member should have proven himself a knight of 
renown. Yet, in this session of 1433, one of the 
candidates proposed for election, though nomin- 
ally a knight, had assuredly had no time to show 
his mettle. The dignity was his only because his 
spurs had been thrown right royally into his cradle 
before his tiny hands had sufficient baby strength 
to grasp a rattle, and before he was even old 

1 " Vingt-quatre chevaliers gentilshommes de nom et d'armes 
et sans reproches nes et procrees en leal mariage'! (see descrip- 
tion of the first list). — Hist, de I'Ordre, p. xxi. 



6 Charles the Bold 

enough to use the pleasant gold to cut his teeth 
upon.i 

Among the eight elected at Dijon in 1433, "^^.s 
Charles of Burgundy, Count of Charolais, son of 
the sovereign duke, bom at Dijon on the previous 
St. Martin's Eve, November loth.^ 

*'The new chevaliers, with the exception of the 
Count of Virnenbourg who was absent, took the accus- 
tomed oath at the hands of the sovereign in a room 
of his palace. " 

So runs the record. Jean le Fevre, Seigneur de 
St. Remy, present on the occasion in his capacity 
of king-at-arms of the Order, is a trifle more com- 
municative. ^ According to him, all the gentle- 
men were very joyous at their election as they 
received their collars and made their vows as 
stated. He excepted no member in the phrase 
about the joy displayed, though, as a matter 
of inference, the pleasure experienced by the 
Count of Charolais may be reckoned as somewhat 
problematical. 

The heir of Burgundy had attained the ripe age 
of just twenty days when thus officially listed 

1 Jacquemin Dauxonne, a merchant of Lombardy living 
at Dijon, received twenty-two francs and a half for a rich 
cloth of black silk draped about the baptismal font. Why 
mourning was used on this joyful occasion does not appear. 
(Laborde, i., 321.) 

2 Summary of a register containing the acts of the Order 
of the Golden Fleece quoted in Histoire de VOrdre, pp. 12, 13. 

3 St. Remy, Chronique, ii., 284. St. Remy is usually called 
Toison d'Or. 



Childhood 7 

among the chevaliers present at the festival. 
Bom on November loth of this same year, 1433,^ 
he had been knighted on the very day of his bap- 
tism, when Charles, Count of Nevers, and the 
Seigneur of Croy were his sponsors. The for- 
mer gave his name to the infant while the latter' s 
name was destined to be identified with many 
unpleasant incidents in the career of the future 
man. This brief span of life is sufficient reason 
for the further item in the archives of the Golden 
Fleece : 

"As to the Count of Charolais, he was carried into 
the same room. There the sovereign, his father, and 
the duchess, his mother, took the oath on his behalf. 
Afterwards the duke put the collars upon all." ^ 

Thus was emphasised at birth the parental con- 
viction that Charles of Burgundy was of different 
metal than the rest of the world. The great duke 
of the Occident made a distinct epoch in the his- 
tory of chivalry when he conferred its dignities 
upon a speechless, unconscious infant. The theory 
that knighthood was a personal acquisition had 
been maintained up to this period, the Children of 
France ^ alone being excepted from the rule, though 
in his Lay de Vaillance Eustache Deschamps 

1 His full name was Charles Martin. One tower alone re- 
mains of the palace where he was born. 

2 Hist, de VOrdre, p. 13. 

3 Selden {Titles of Honor, p. 457), however, says he knows 
not by what authority this statement is made and that he 
knows nothing of it. Seven is the earliest age mentioned by 
Gautier for receiving knighthood. 



8 Charles the Bold 

complains that the degree of knighthood is actually- 
conferred on those who are only ten or twelve 
years old, and who do not know what to do with 
the honour.^ That plaint was written not later 
than the first years of the fifteenth century, and the 
poet's prediction that ruin of the institution was 
imminent when affected by such disorders seemed 
justified if, in 1433, even the years of the eligible 
age had shrunk to days. Philip himself had not 
received the accolade until he was twenty-five. 

How his predecessor in Holland, Count William 
VI., had acquitted himself valiantly the moment 
that he was dubbed knight is told by Froissart, 
and the tales of other accolades of the period are 
too well known to need reference. 

It is said that the baby cavalier was nourished 
by his own mother. Having lost her first two 
infants, Isabella was solicitous for the welfare of 
this third child, who also proved her last. He 
was, moreover, Philip's sole legal heir, as Mi- 
chelle of France and Bonne of Artois, his first 
wives, had left no offspring. The care and devo- 
tion expended on the boy were repaid. Charles 
became a sturdy child who developed into youth- 
ful vigour. In person, he strangely resembled 
his mother and her Portuguese ancestors, rather 
than the English Lancastrians, from whom she 
was equally descended. 

His dark hair and his features were very differ- 
ent from the fair type of his paternal ancestors, 

J Deschamps, CEuvres Completes, ii., 214. 



Childhood 9 

the vigorous branch of the Valois family. Possi- 
bly other characteristics suggesting his Portuguese 
origin were intensified by close association with 
his mother, who supervised the education directed 
by the Seigneur d' Auxy. They often lived at 
The Hague, where Isabella acted as chief and 
official adviser to the duke's stadtholder in the 
administration.^ 

Charles was a diligent pupil, if we may believe 
his contemporaries, surprisingly so, considering 
his early taste for all martial pursuits and his 
intense interest in military operations. 

At two years of age he received his first lesson 
in horsemanship, on a wooden steed constructed 
for his especial use by Jean Rampart, a saddler 
of Brussels. 

His biographers repeat from each other state- 
ments of his proficiency in Latin. This must be 
balanced by noting that the only texts which he 
could have read were probably not classic. In 
the inventory of the various Burgundian libraries 
of the period, there are not six Greek and Latin 
classical texts all told, and excepting Sallust, not 
a single Roman historian in the original.^ There 

» The ancient quarrel between the old Holland parties of 
Hooks and Cods continually blazed out anew. On one nota- 
ble occasion, to show her impartiality, the duchess appeared 
in public accompanied by the stadtholder, Lelaing, a partisan 
of the Hooks, and by Frank van Borselen, himself a Cod, the 
widower of Jacqueline, the late Countess of Holland. 

2 Barante, Histoire des Dues de Bourgogne, vi., 2, note 
by Reiffenberg. 



lo Charles the Bold 

was a translation of Livy by the Prior of St. Eloi 
and late abridgments of Sallust, Suetonius, Lucan, 
and Caesar, 1 with a French version of Valerius 
Maximus, but nothing of Tacitus. Doubtless 
these versions and a volume called Les faits des 
Romains were used as text-books to teach the 
young count about the world's conquerors. The 
last mentioned book shows what travesties of 
Roman history were gravely read in the fifteenth 
century. 

There are stories ^ that the bit of history most 
enjoyed by the pupil was the narrative of Alex- 
ander. Books about that hero were easy to come 
by long before the invention of printing, though 
Alexander would have had difficulty in recognising 
his identity under the strange mediaeval motley 
in which his namesake wandered over the land. 
No single man, with the possible exception of 
Charlemagne, was so much written about or 
played so brilliantly the part of a hero to the Mid- 
dle Ages and after. ^ The simplicity and univers- 
ality of his success were of a type to appeal to the 
boy Charles, himself built on simple lines. The 
fact, too, that Alexander was the son of a Philip 
stimulated his imagination and instilled in his 
breast hopes of conquering, not the whole world 
perhaps, but a good slice of territory which should 
enable him to hold his own between the emperor 

1 See Catalogue des manuscrits des Dues de Bourgogne, 
" R^sum6 historique," i., Ixxix. 

2 Barante, vi., 2, note. 

3 Loomis, Medieval Hellenism. 



Childhood 1 1 

and the French king. Tales of definite schemes 
of early ambition are often fabricated in the later 
life of a conqueror, but in this case they may be be- 
lieved, as all threads of testimony lead to the same 
conclusion. 

The air breathed by the boy when he first be- 
came conscious of his own individuality was cer- 
tainly heavy with the aroma of satisfied ambition. 
The period of his childhood was a time when his 
father stood at the very zenith of his power. In 
1435, was signed the Treaty of Arras, the death- 
blow to the long coalition existing between Bur- 
gundy and England to the continual detriment 
of France. Philip was reconciled with great 
solemnity to the king, responsible in his dauphin 
days for the murder of the late Duke of Burgundy. 
After ostentatiously parading his filial resentment 
sixteen long years, Philip forgave Charles VII. 
his share in the death of John the Fearless, on the 
bridge at Montereau, and swore to lend his support 
to keep the French monarch on the throne whither 
the efforts of Joan of Arc had carried him from 
Bourges, the forlorn court of his exile. 

England's pretensions were repudiated. To 
be sure, the recent coronation of Henry VI. at 
Paris was not immediately forgotten, but while 
the Duke of Bedford had actually administered 
the government as regent, in behalf of his infant 
nephew, it was a mere shadow of his office that 
passed to his successor. Bedford's death, in 1435, 
was almost coincident with the compact at Arras 



12 Charles the Bold 

when the EngHsh Henry's realms across the Chan- 
nel shrank to Normandy and the outlying for- 
tresses of Picardy and Maine. Later events 
on English soil were to prove how little fitted was 
the son of Henry V. for sovereignty of any kind. 

Out of the negotiations at Arras, Philip of Bur- 
gundy rose triumphant with a seal set upon his 
personal importance.^ His recognition of Charles 
Vn. as lawful sovereign of France, and his re- 
conciliation did not pass without signal gain to 
himself. 

The king declared his own hands unstained by 
the blood of John of Burgundy, agreed to punish 
all those designated by Philip as actually respon- 
sible for that treacherous murder, and pledged 
himself to erect a cross on the bridge at Montereau, 
the scene of the crime. Further, he relinquished 
various revenues in Burgundy, hitherto retained 
by the crown from the moment when the junior 
branch of the Valois had been invested with the 
duchy (1364) ; and he ceded the counties of Bou- 
logne, Artois, and all the seigniories belonging to 
the French sovereign on both banks of the Somme. 
To this last cession, however, was appended the 
condition that the towns included in this clause 
could be redeemed at the king's pleasure, for the 
sum of four hundred thousand gold crowns. 
Further, Charles exempted Philip from acts of 
homage to himself, promised to demand no aides 
from the duke's subjects in case of war, and to 

1 Pirenne, Histoire de Belgique, ii., 231. 



Childhood 13 

assist his cousin if he were attacked from England. 
Lastly, he renounced an alliance lately contracted 
with the emperor to Philip's disadvantage.^ 

One clause in the treaty crowned the royal sub- 
missiveness towards the powerful vassal. It pro- 
vided that in case of Charles's failure to observe 
all the stipulated conditions, his own subjects 
would be justified in taking arms against him at 
the duke's orders. A similar clause occurs in cer- 
tain treaties between an earlier French king and 
his Flemish vassals, but always to the advantage of 
the suzerain, not to that of the lesser lords. 

The duke was left in a position infinitely su- 
perior to that of the king, whose realm was terribly 
exhausted by the long contest with England, a 
contest wherein one nation alone had felt the in- 
vader's foot. French prosperity had been nibbled 
off like green foliage before a swarm of locusts, 
and the whole north-eastern portion of France was 
in a sorry state of desolation by 1435. On the 
other hand, the territories covered by Burgundy 
as an overlord had greatly increased during the 
sixteen years that Philip had worn the title. An 
aggregation of duchies, counties, and lordships 
formed his domain, loosely hung together by rea- 
son of their several titles being vested in one per- 
son — ^titles which the bearer had inherited or 
assumed under various pretexts. 

1 It was in June, 1434, that this alliance had been made. 
Sigismund claimed that Philip had no right in Brabant, 
Holland, Zealand, and Hainaut, which in his opinion were 
lapsed fiefs, of the empire. 



14 Charles the Bold 

Flanders and Artois, together with the duchy 
and county of Burgundy, came to him from his 
father, John the Fearless, in 141 9. In 142 1, he 
bought Namur. In 1430, he declared himself 
heir to his cousins in Brabant and Limbourg 
when Duke Anthony's second son followed his 
equally childless brother into a premature grave, 
and the claims were made good in spite of all op- 
position. Holland, Zealand, and Hainaut became 
his through the unwilling abdication of his other 
cousin, Jacqueline, in 1433. To save the life of 
her husband, Frank van Borselen, the last repre- 
sentative of the Bavarian House then formally 
resigned her titles, which she had already divested 
of all significance five years previously, when 
Philip of Burgundy had become her ruward, to 
relieve a "poor feminine person" of a weight of 
responsibility too heavy for her shoulders.^ 

Antwerp and Mechlin were included in Bra- 
bant. Luxemburg was a later acquisition ob- 
tained through Elizabeth of Gorlitz. 

There were very shady bits in the chapters about 
Philip's entry into many of his possessions, but 
it is interesting to note how cleverly the best col- 
our is given to his actions by Olivier de la Marche 
and other writers who enjoyed Burgundian pa- 

» Putnam, A MedicBval Princess. 

Divers items in the accounts show what Philip expended 
in having the titles of Holland, Zealand, and Hainaut added 
to his other designations. Also there were various places 
where his predecessor's name had to be effaced to make room 
for his. ( Laborde , i . , 345). 



Childhood 15 

tronage. Very gentle are the adjectives employed, 
and a nice cloak of legality is thrown over the 
naked facts as they are ushered into history. Con- 
temporary criticism did occasionally make itself 
heard, especially from the emperor, who declared 
that the Netherland provinces must come to him 
as a lapsed imperial fief. For a time Philip de- 
nied that any links existed between his domain 
and the empire, but in 1449 he finally found it 
convenient to discuss the question with Frederic 
III. at Besangon; still he never came to the point 
of paying homage. 

All these territories made a goodly realm for a 
mere duke. But they were individual entities cen- 
tred around one head with little interconnec- 
tion. 

Philip thought that the one thing needed to 
bring his possessions into a national life, as coherent 
as that of France, was a unity of legal existence 
among the dissimilar parts, and the effort to at- 
tain this unity was the one thought dominating 
the career of his successor, whose pompous intro- 
duction to life naturally inspired him with a high 
idea of his own rank, and led him to dream of 
greater dignities for himself and his successor than 
a bundle of titles, — a splendid, vain, fatal dream 
as it proved. 

As a final cement to the new friendship between 
Burgundy and France, it was also agreed at Arras 
that the heir of the former should wed a daughter 
of Charles VII . When the Count of Charolais was 



i6 Charles the Bold 

five years old, the Seigneur of Crevecoeur,^ '*a 
wise and prudent gentleman'* was despatched to 
the French court on divers missions, among which 
was the business of negotiating the projected alli- 
ance. A very joyous reception was accorded the 
envoy by the king and the queen, and his proposal 
was accepted in behalf of the second daughter, 
Catherine, easily substituted for an older sister, 
deceased between the first and second stages 
of negotiation. 

A year later, a formal betrothal took place at 
St. Omer, whither the young bride was conducted, 
most honourably accompanied by the archbishops 
of Rheims and of Narbonne, by the counts of Ven- 
dome, Tonnerre, and Dunois, the young son of the 
Duke of Bourbon, named the Lord of Beaujeu, 
and various other distinguished nobles, besides a 
train of noble dames and demoiselles in special at- 
tendance on the princess, and an escort of three 
hundred horse. 

At the various cities where the party made halt 
they were graciously received, and all honour was 
paid to the ten-year-old Daughter of France. At 
Cambray, she was met by the duke's envoys and 
as she travelled on towards her destination, all the 
towns of Philip's obedience contributed their quota 
of welcome. 

At St. Omer, the duke was awaiting her coming. 
When her approach was announced he rode out in 
person to greet her, attended by a brilliant escort. 

» Monstrelet, La Chronique, v., 344. 



Childhood 17 

Within the city, "melodious festivals" were ready 
to burst into tune ; the betrothal was confirmed 
amid joyousness and the ceremony was followed by 
tourneys and jousts, all at the expense of the duke. 

What a series of pompous betrothals between 
infant parties the fifteenth and sixteenth cent- 
uries can show! Poor little puppets, in whose 
persons national interests were supposed to be 
centred, were made to lisp out their roles in inter- 
national dramas whose final acts rarely were con- 
sistent with the promise of the prologue. 

Catherine did not live to become Duchess of 
Burgundy nor to temper the duel between her 
husband and her brother Louis. The remainder 
of her short existence was passed under the care of 
Duchess Isabella, sometimes in one city of the 
Netherlands, sometimes in another. 

La Marche^ records one return of Philip to 
Brussels when his arrival was greeted by Charles 
of Burgundy, honourably accompanied by child- 
ren of high birth about his age or less, some only 
eleven or twelve years old. There were with him 
Jehan de la Tremoille, Philip de Croy, Philip de 
Crevecoeur, Philip de Wavrin, and many others. 
All were mounted on little horses harnessed like 
that of their governor, a very honest and wise 
gentleman, named Messire Jehan, Seigneur et 
Bar d' Auxy. This gentleman was a fine man, 
well known, of good lineage, ready of speech and 
able to discuss matters of honour and of state. 

1 La Marche, Memoires, ii., 50. 



1 8 Charles the Bold 

He was both hunter and falconer, skilled in all 
exercise and sport. 

"Never [asserts La Marche] have I met a gentleman 
better adapted to supervise the education of a young 
prince than he. . . . Among his pupils were also 
Anthony, Bastard of Burgundy/ son of Phihp, and 
the Marquis Hugues de Rottelin. These lads were 
older than the first mentioned." 

La Marche dilates on the pleasure the duke felt 
in this youthful band of horse, and then tells how, 
within Brussels, 

**he was received by the magistrates and conducted 
to his palace, where the Duchess of Burgundy awailjed 
him holding by the hand Madame Catherine of France, 
Countess of Charolais. She was about twelve and 
seemed a lady grown, for she was good and wise, and 
well conditioned for her age." 

At various state functions the Count and Count- 
ess of Charolais appeared together in public, and 
witnessed certain of the gorgeous and costly enter- 
tainments which were almost the daily food of 
the gay Burgundian court. One of these oc- 
casions was calculated to make a deep impression 
on the boy and to arouse his pride at the spectacle 
of a proud city wooing his father's favour, in deep 
humiliation. 

In 1436, an insurrection had occurred in Bruges, 
when the animosity of the burghers had caused 

1 Reiffenberg, Essai sur les enfants naturels de Philippe de 
Bourgogne. 




PHILIP THE GOOD AS PATRON OF LETTERS 

THE YOUNG COUNT OF CHAROLAIS IS IN THE BACKGROUND WITH ONE OF PHILIP'S SONS 

FROM MINIATURE REPRODUCED IN BARANTE, " HIST. DES DUCS DE BOURGOGNE" 



Childhood 19 

the duchess to flee from their midst, holding her 
httle son in her arms, alarmed for his personal 
safety. Philip suppressed the revolt, but, in his 
anger at its insolence, declared that never again 
would he set foot within the gates unless in com- 
pany with his superior. 

Among the many negotiations wherein Isabella 
played a prominent part as her husband's repre- 
sentative, were those concerning the liberation 
of the Duke of Orleans, who had remained in Eng- 
land, a prisoner, after the battle of Agincourt in 
141 5. The last advice given by Henry V. to his 
brothers was that they should make this cap- 
tivity perpetual. Therefore, whenever overtures 
were made for his redemption, a strong party, 
headed by Humphrey of Gloucester, rejected them 
vehemently. 

In 1440, however, there was a turn in the tide 
of sentiment. Possibly the low state of the Eng- 
lish exchequer made the duke's ransom more 
attractive than his person. At any rate, 120,000 
golden crowns were accepted as his equivalent, 
and the exile of twenty-five years returned to 
France, having pledged himself never to bear 
arms against England. 

Isabella of Burgundy was at Calais to welcome 
him, and to escort him to St. Omer, where high 
revels were held in his honour and in that of his 
alliance with Marie of Cleves, Philip's niece. 

The week intervening between the betrothal 
and the nuptials was passed in a succession of ban- 



20 Charles the Bold 

quets and tourneys, gorgeous in their elaboration. 
Moreover, St. Andrew's Day chancing to fall just 
then, the new Burgundian Order was convened 
and the Duke of Orleans was elected a Knight of 
the Golden Fleece, while in his turn he presented 
his cousin with the collar of his own Order of the 
Porcupine. Lord Cornwallis and other English 
gentlemen who had accompanied Orleans across 
the Channel participated in these gaieties, nor 
were they among the least favoured guests, adds 
Barante. 

Amity was triumphant, and there was a general 
feeling abroad that the returned exile was hence- 
forth to be the ruling power in France. People 
began to look to him to act as the go-between in 
their behalf, to be their mediator with Charles 
VII., still little known at his best. Many towns 
turned towards him in hopes of finding a friend, 
and among them was Bruges. But it was not royal 
favours that Bruges sought. Her burghers felt 
great inconvenience from the breach with their 
sovereign duke. Anxious to be reinstated in his 
grace, they seized the opportunity of reminding 
Philip of his assertion, and they besought him to 
enter their gates in company with the Duke of 
Orleans, a prince of the blood, closer to the French 
sovereign than the Duke of Burgundy. 

After some demur, Philip consented to grant 
their petition. Possibly he was not loth to be 
persuaded. The deputies hastened back to Bruges 
to rejoice their fellow-citizens with the news, and 



Childhood 21 

to prepare a reception for their appeased sovereign, 
calculated to make him content with the late rebels. 

Before the grand cortege, composed of the two 
dukes, their consorts, and the dignitaries who had 
assisted in the feasts of marriage and of chivalry, 
reached the gates of Bruges, the citizens were 
ready with a touching spectacle of humihty and 
repentance. ^ 

A league from the gates, the magistrates and 
burghers stood in the road awaiting the travellers 
from St. Omer. All were barefooted and bare- 
headed. Under the December sky they waited 
the approach of the stately procession. When 
the duke arrived, they all fell upon their knees and 
implored him to forgive the late troubles and to 
reinstate their city in his favour. Philip did not 
answer immediately — delay was always a feature 
of these episodes. Thereupon, the Duke of Or- 
leans, both duchesses, and all the gentlemen joined 
their entreaties to the citizens' prayers. Again a 
pause, and then, as if generously yielding to pres- 
sure, Philip bade the burghers put on their shoes 
and their hats while he accepted at their hands the 
keys of all the gates. Then the long procession 
moved on towards Bruges. At the gate were 
the clergy, followed by the monks, nuns, and be- 
guins of the various convents and foundations, 
bearing crosses, banners, reliquaries, and many 
precious ecclesiastical treasures. There, too, were 

1 Meyer, Commentarii sive Annales rerum Flandricarum , 
p. 296. 



2 2 Charles the Bold 

the gilds and merchants, on horseback, with mag- 
nificent accoutrements freshly burnished to do 
honour to the welcome they offered their forgiving 
overlord. 

Throughout Bruges, at convenient places, plat- 
forms and stages were erected, whereon were en- 
acted dramatic performances, given continuously, 
to provide amusement for the collected crowds. 
Sometimes the presentation carried significance 
beyond mere entertainment. Here a maid, garbed 
as a wood nymph, appeared leading a swan which 
wore the collar of the Golden Fleece and a porcu- 
pine. This last beast was to symbolise the Or- 
leans device. Near and Far, as the creature was 
supposed to project his spines to a distance. 

One enthusiastic citizen covered his whole house 
with gold and the roof with silver leaves to be- 
token his satisfaction. Indeed, if we may believe 
the chroniclers, never in the memory of man had 
any city incurred so much expense to honour its 
lord. The duke permitted his heart to be touched 
by these proofs of devotion, and on the very even- 
ing of his arrival he evinced that his confidence 
was restored by sending the civic keys and a gra- 
cious message to the magistrates. At the news 
of this condescension the cries of ** Noel " re-echoed 
afresh through the illuminated streets. 

Charles was not present at this entry, which 
took place on Saturday, December i ith, but Philip 
was so much entertained with the performance 
that he sent for his son, and on the following Sat- 



Childhood 23 

urday he and the Countess of Charolais came from 
Ghent to join the party. The Duke of Orleans 
and many nobles rode out of the city to meet the 
young couple, who were formally escorted to the 
palace by magistrates and citizens in a body. On 
the Sunday there were repetitions of some of 
the plays and every attention was offered by the 
Bruges burghers to their young guests. When 
Orleans departed with his bride on Tuesday, De- 
cember 14th, what wonder that the lady wept in 
sorrow at leaving these gay Burgundian doings! 

While Charles did not actually witness the hu- 
miliation of the citizens, the seven-year-old boy 
would, undoubtedly, have heard and known suffi- 
cient of the cause of the festivals to be fully aware 
that the citizens who had dared defy his father 
were glad to buy back his smiles at any cost to 
their pride and purse. He would have known, 
too, that merchants from Venice, Genoa, Florence, 
and elsewhere joined the Bruges burghers in the 
welcome to the mollified overlord. It was a spec- 
tacle of the relations between a city and the ducal 
father not to be easily forgotten by the son. 



CHAPTER II 

YOUTH 

1440-1453 

THE heir of Burgundy was still in very tender 
years when he began to take official part in 
public affairs, sometimes associated with one 
parent, sometimes with the other. 

There was a practical advantage in bringing the 
boy to the fore by which the duke was glad to 
profit. With his own manifold interests, it was 
impossible for him to be present in his various cap- 
itals as often as was demanded by the usage of 
the diverse individual seigniories. It was politic, 
therefore, to magnify the representative capacity 
of his son and of his consort in order to obtain the 
grants and aides which certain of his subjects de- 
clared could be given only when requested orally 
by their sovereign lord. Thus, in 1444, it was 
Count Charles and the duchess who appeared in 
Holland to ask an aide.^ In the following year, 
Charles accompanied his father when Philip made 
one of his rare visits — there were only three be- 
tween 1428 and 1466 — ^to Holland and Zealand. 

1 Blok, Eene Hollandsche stad onder de Bourg. Oosten- 
rijksche Heerschappij, p. 84. 

?4 



<Kj4s>iijr»'. '■::m ;?T;-»t^ 




A CASTLE IN BURGUNDY 



Youth 25 

Olivier de la Marche was among the attendants 
on this occasion, and he describes with great 
detail how rejoiced were the inhabitants to have 
their absentee count in their land.^ Many 
matters could only be set aright by his author- 
ity. Among the complaints brought to him 
at Middelburg were accusations against a cer- 
tain knight of high birth, Jehan de Dombourc. 
Philip ordered that the man be arrested at once 
and brought before him for trial. This was easier 
said than done. Warned of his danger, Dombourc, 
with four or five comrades, took refuge in the clock 
tower of the church of the Cordeliers, a sanctuary 
that could not be taken by storm. ^ He was pro- 
vided with a good store of food, this audacious 
criminal, and prepared to stand a siege. There 
he remained three days, because, for the honour of 
the Church, they could not fire upon him. 

**And I remember [adds La Marche] seeing a nun 
come out and call to Jehan Dombourc, her brother, 
advising him to perish defending himself rather than 
to dishonour their lineage by falling into the hands 
of the executioner. Nevertheless, finally he was forced 
to surrender to his prince, and he was beheaded in the 
market-place at Middelburg, but, at the plea of his 
sister, the said nun, his body was delivered to her to 
be buried in consecrated ground." 

In this same visit Philip presided over the Zea- 

1 La Marche, ii., 79, etc. 

2 See also Chronijcke van Nederlant, p. 76, and Vlaamsche 
Kronij'k, p. 203. Ed. C. Piot, 



26 Charles the Bold 

land estates and the young count sat by his side, 
not as an idle spectator, but because usage re- 
quired the presence of the heir as well as that of the 
Count of Zealand. 

When Charles was twelve he was present at an 
assembly of the Order of the Golden Fleece held 
in Ghent. It was the first occasion of the kind 
witnessed by La Marche, and very minute is his 
description of the lavish magnificence of the 
affair, undoubtedly intended to awe the citizens 
into complying with the requests of their Count 
of Flanders. 

Charles played a prominent part in all the func- 
tions, and assisted in the election of his tutor, 
Seigneur et Ber d' Auxy. Another candidate of 
that year was Frank van Borselen, Count of Os- 
trevant, widower of Jacqueline, late Countess of 
Holland. 

In 1446, the little Countess of Charolais died at 
Brussels. " Honourably as befitted a king's 
daughter ' ' was she buried at Ste. Gudule. ^ 

"Tireless in their devotion were the duke and 
duchess in her last illness, and Charles VII. despatched 
two skilled doctors to her aid but all efforts were vain. 

'VMuch bemourned was the princess for she was 
virtuous. God have pity on her soul " 

piously ejaculates La Marche. 

A little item 2 in the accounts suggests that a 

1 D'Escouchy, Chronique, i., no. 

2 The items of the funeral expenses can be found in Laborde, 
i., 380. There were 600 masses at two sous apiece. 



Youth 27 

pleasant friendship had existed between the two 
young people : 

"To Jehan de la Court, harper of Mme. the Count- 
ess of Charolais, for a harp which she had bought 
from him and given to Ms. the Count of Charolais for 
him to play and take his amusement, xii francs."^ 

It is easy to surmise that music was not, how- 
ever, the young count's favourite amusement. In 
Philip's court, tournaments were still held and 
afforded a fascinating entertainment for a lad 
whose bent was undoubtedly towards a military 
career. 

One valiant actor in these tourneys where were 
revived the ancient traditions of knighthood, was 
Jacques de Lalaing, a chevalier with all the char- 
acteristics of times past, fighting for fame in the 
present. In his youth, this aspirant for reputa- 
tion swore a vow to meet thirty knights in combat 
before he attained his thirtieth year. Dominated 
by a desire to fulfil his vow, Lalaing haunted the 
court of Burgundy, because the Netherlands were 
on the highroad between England and many points 
in Germany, Italy, and the East, and there he had 
the best chance of falling in with all the prowess 

1 In that same year, 1440,111 which this gift is recorded, 
there is another item showing how Charles took his amuse- 
ment not only on the harp but in planning some of the elabo- 
rate surprises regularly introduced between courses in the 
banquets. "To Barthelmy the painter, for making the cover 
of a pasty for the Count of Charolais to present to Mon- 
seigneur on the night of St. Martin in the previous year, v 
francs" (Laborde, i., 381). 



28 Charles the Bold 

that might be abroad. For stay-at-home prowess 
he cared naught. A deHghtful personage is Mes- 
sire Jacques and a brave role does he play in the 
series of jousts, sporting gaily on the pages of the 
various Burgundian chroniclers, who recorded in 
their old age what they had seen in their youth. 
One description, however, of these encounters 
reads much like another and they need not be 
repeated. 

During his childhood Charles was a spectator 
only on the days of mimic battle. In his seven- 
teenth year he was permitted to enter the lists as a 
regular combatant, a permission shared by his fel- 
low pupils all eager to flesh their maiden spears. 
The duke arranged that his son should have a pre- 
liminary tilt a few days before the public affair in 
order to test his ability. All the courtiers — and 
apparently ladies were not excluded from the dis- 
cussion on the matter — agreed that no better 
knight could be found for this purpose than 
Jacques de Lalaing, who, on his part, was highly 
honoured by being selected to gauge the untried 
capabilities of the prince. ^ 

In the park at Brussels with the duke and duch- 
ess as onlookers, the preliminary encounter took 
place. At the very first attack, Charles struck 
Messire Jacques on the shield and shattered his 
lance into many pieces. The duke was displeased 
because he thought that the knight had not exerted 
his full strength and was favouring his son. He 
1 La Marche, ii., 214. 



Youth 29 

accordingly sent word to Jacques that he must 
play in earnest and not hold his force in leash. 
Fresh lances were brought ; again did the count 
withstand the attack so sturdily that both lances 
were shattered. This time the boy's mother was 
the dissatisfied one, thinking that the knight was 
too hard with his junior, but the duke only 
laughed. 

"Thus differed the parents. The one desired him 
to prove his manhood, the other was preoccupied 
with his safety. With these two courses the trial 
ended amid rounds of applause for the prince."^ 

The actual tourney was held on the Market- 
place in Brussels before a distinguished assembly. 
Count Charles was escorted into the arena by his 
cousin, the Count d'Estampes, and other nobles. 
Seigneur d' Auxy, his tutor, stood near to watch 
the maiden efforts of the prince and his mates. 
He had reason to be proud of Charles, both for 
his bearing and his skill. He gave and received 
excellent thrusts, broke more than ten lances, 
and did his duty so valiantly that in the evening 
he received the prize from two princesses, and 
''Montjoye" was cried by the heralds in his hon- 
our. From that time forth, the count was con- 
sidered a puissant and rude jouster and gained 
great renown. 

"And that is the reason why I commence my me- 

1 Gachard puts this tournament in Lent, 1452. Charles's 
outfit cost 360 Hvres. 



30 Charles the Bold 

moirs about him and his deeds^ [continues La Marche, 
on concluding his description of the tournament], 
and I do not speak from hearsay and rumour. As 
one who has been brought up with him from his youth 
in his father's service and in his own, I will touch upon 
his education, his morals, his character, and his habits 
from the moment when I first saw him as appears 
above in my memoirs. 

"As to his character, I will commence at the worst 
features. He was hot, active, and impetuous: as a 
child he was very eager to have his own way. Never- 
theless, he had so much understanding and good sense 
that he resisted his inclinations and in his youth no 
one could be found sweeter or more courteous than he. 
He did not take the name of God or the saints in vain, 
and held God in great fear and reverence. He learned 
well and had a retentive memory. He was fond of 
reading and of hearing read the stories of Lancelot 
and Gawain, but to both he preferred the sea and 
boats. Falconry, too, he loved and he hunted when- 
ever he had leave. In archery he early excelled his 
comrades and was good at other sports. Thus was 
the count educated, trained, and taught, and thus did 
he devote himself to good and excellent exercise." 

That the report of the lavishness and extrava- 
gance of the Burgundian court was no idle rumour, 
exaggerated by frequent repetitions, is attested 
to by every bit of contemporary evidence. En- 
thusiastic and loyal chroniclers dwell on the mag- 
nificence, and the arid details of bills paid show 
what it cost to attain the vaunted perfection, while 

1 La Marche, i., ch. 21. 







FRONTISPIECE OF AN ACCOUNT-BOOK 
XVTH CENTURY 



Youth 31 

the protests from taxpayers prove that this splen- 
dour did not grow hke the lihes of the field. 

Philip's treasury had many separate compart- 
ments. There were many quarters to which he 
could turn for his needed supplies, but there were 
times when his exchequer ran very threateningly 
low, and his financial stress led him to be very 
conciliatory towards the burghers with full purses. 

In 1445, Ghent had been honoured by the cele- 
bration of the feast of the Order of the Golden 
Fleece within her gates. Two years later, Philip 
appeared in person at a meeting of the collace, or 
municipal assembly, and delivered a harangue 
to the Ghentish magistrates and burghers, flatter- 
ing them, moreover, by using their vernacular. 
The tenor of this speech was as follows^ : 

**My good and faithful friends, you know how I 
have been brought up among you from my infancy. 
That is why I have always loved you more than the in- 
habitants of all my other cities, and I have proved this 
by acceding to all your requests. I believe then that 
I am justified in hoping that you will not abandon 
me to-day when I have need of your support. Doubt- 
less you are not ignorant of the condition of my fath- 
er's treasury at the period of his death. The majority 
of his possessions had been sold. His jewels were in 
pawn. Nevertheless, the demands of a legitimate 
vengeance compelled me to undertake a long and 
bloody war, during which the defence of my fortresses 

1 Kervyn, Histoire de Flandre, iv. Kervyn quotes from 
the Daghoek des gentsche collatie, M. Schayes. 



32 Charles the Bold 

and of my cities, and the pay of my army have neces- 
sitated outlays so large that it is impossible to estim- 
ate them. You know, too, that at the very moment 
when the war on France was at its height, I was obliged, 
in order to assure the protection of my country of 
Flanders, to take arms against the English in Hain- 
aut, in Zealand, and in Friesland, a proceeding cost- 
ing me more than 10,000 saluts d'or, which I raised 
with difficulty. Was I not equally obliged to proceed 
against Liege, in behalf of my countship of Namur, 
which sprang from the bosom of Flanders? It is not 
necessary to add to all these outlays those which I 
assume daily for the cause of the Christians in Jeru- 
salem, and the maintenance of the Holy Sepulchre. 

"It is true, however, that, yielding to the persua- 
sions of the pope and the Council, I have now con- 
sented to put an end to the evils multiplied by war 
by forgetting my father's death, and by reconciling 
myself with the king. Since the conclusion of this 
treaty, I considered that while I had succeeded in 
preserving to my subjects during the war the advan- 
tages of industry and of peace, they had submitted 
to heavy burdens in taxes and in voluntary contribu- 
tions, and that it was my duty to re-establish order 
and justice in the administration. But everything 
went on as though the war had not ceased. All my 
frontiers have been menaced, and I found myself 
obliged to make good my rights in Luxemburg, so 
useful to the defence of my other lands, especially 
of Brabant and Flanders. 

"In this way, my expenses continued to increase; 
all my resources are now exhausted, and the saddest 
part of it all is that the good cities and communes of 
Flanders and especially the country folk are at the 



Youth 33 

very end of their sacrifices. With grief I see many 
of my subjects unable to pay their taxes, and obHged 
to emigrate. Nevertheless, my receipts are so scanty 
that I have little advantage from them. Nor do I 
reap more from my hereditary lands, for all are equally 
impoverished. 

*'A way must be found to ease the poor people, 
and at the same time to protect Flanders from insult, 
Flanders for whose sake I would risk my own person, 
although to arrive at this end, important measures 
have become imperative." 

After this affectionate preamble, Philip finally 
states that, in order to raise the requisite revenues, 
no method seemed to him so good and so simple as 
a tax on salt, three sous on every measure for a 
term of twelve years. He promised to dispense 
with all other subsidies and to make his son swear 
to demand nothing further as long as the gabelle 
was imposed. 

"Know [he added in conclusion] that even if you 
consent to it I will renounce it if others prove of a dif- 
ferent opinion, for I do not desire that the communes 
of Flanders be more heavily weighted than any other 
portion of my territory." 

The duke might have spared his trouble and his 
elaborate condescension. The answer to his con- 
ciliatory request was a fiat refusal to consider 
the matter at all. Salt was a vital necessity to 
Flemish fisheries, and its cost could not- be in- 
creased to the least degree without serious incon- 



34 Charles the Bold 

venience. The Flemings were wroth at his imitat- 
ing the worst custom of his French kinsmen. 

PhiHp departed from Ghent in great dudgeon. 
After a time he was persuaded that the indisposi- 
tion of the town to meet his reasonable wishes was 
not due to the citizens at large, but to the machin- 
ations of a few unruly agitators among the magis- 
trates. In 1449, therefore, he took a high-handed 
course of trying to direct the issue of the regular 
municipal elections, so as to ensure the choice of 
magistrates on whose obedience he could rely. 
The appearance of Burgundian troops in Ghent, 
before the election of mid-August, aroused the 
wrath of the community, who thought that their 
most cherished franchises were in jeopardy. 

This was the beginning of a bitter struggle be- 
tween Ghent and Philip. The duke found it no 
light matter to coerce the independent burghers 
into remembering that they were simply part of 
the Burgundian state. " Tantce molis erat liheram 
gentem in servitutem adigere !" ejaculates Meyer in 
the midst of his chronicle of the details of fourteen 
months of active hostilities. ^ Matters were long 
in coming to an outbreak. Various points had 
been contended over, when Philip had endeav- 
oured to change the seat of the great council, or 
to take divers measures tending to concentrate 
certain judicial or legislative functions for his own 
convenience, but in a manner prejudicial to the 
autonomy of Ghent. His centripetal policy was 

1 Meyer, xvi., 303. 



Youth 35 

disliked, but when his policy went further, and he 
attempted to control purely civic offices, dislike 
grew into resentment and the Ghenters rose in 
open revolt. 

For a time, their opposition passed in Philip's 
estimation as mere insignificant unruliness. By 
1452, however, the date of the tourney above de- 
scribed, it became evident that a vital issue was at 
stake. The Estates of Flanders endeavoured to 
mediate between overlord and town, but without 
success. Owing to Philip's interference in the 
elections, the results were declared void, and when 
a new election was appointed, the Burgundians 
accused the city of hastily augmenting its num- 
ber of legal voters by over-facile naturalisation 
laws. The gilds, too, evinced a readiness to be 
very lenient in their scrutiny of candidates for 
admission to their cherished privileges, preferring, 
for the nonce, numbers to quality. Occupancy 
of furnished rooms was declared sufficient for en- 
franchisement, and there were cases where mere 
guests of a bourgeois were hastily recorded on the 
lists as full-fledged citizens. 

By these means the popular party waxed very 
strong numerically. The sheriffs found them- 
selves quite unequal to holding the rampant spirit 
of democracy in check. The regular government 
was overthrown, and the demagogues succeeded in 
electing three captains (hooftmans) invested with 
arbitrary power for the time being. The decrees 
of the ex-sheriffs were suspended, and a mass of 



36 Charles the Bold 

very radical measures promulgated and joyfully 
confirmed by the populace, assembled on the 
Friday market. It was to be the judgment of the 
town meeting that ruled, not deputed authority. 
One ordinance stipulated that at the sound of 
the bell every burgher must hasten to the market- 
place, to lend his voice to the deliberations. 

For a time various negotiations went on between 
Philip and envoys from Ghent. The latter took 
a high hand and insinuated in unmistakable terms 
that if the duke refused an accommodation with 
them, they would appeal to their suzerain, the King 
of France. No act of rebellion, overt or covert, 
exasperated Philip more than this suggestion. 
Charles VII. was only too ready to ignore those 
clauses in the treaty of Arras, releasing the duke 
from homage, and virtually acknowledging his 
complete independence in his French territories. 
The king accepted missives from his late vassal's 
city, without reprimanding the writers for their 
presumption in signing themselves ''Seigneurs of 
Ghent. "1 His action, however, was confined to 
mild attempts at mediation. 

It was plain to the duke that his other towns 
would follow Ghent's resistance to his authority 
if there were hopes of her success. Therefore he 
threw aside all other interests for the time being, 
and exerted himself to levy a body of troops to 

1 They were charged with using this phrase. Gachard says 
that they placed at the top of their letter their titles of sheriffs 
and deans, as princes and lords take the title of their seignor- 
ies. — (La Marche, ii., 221. See also d'Escouchy, ii., 25.) 



Youth 37 

crush Flemish pretensions. His counsellors ad- 
vised him to sound the temper of other citizens 
and to ascertain whether their sympathies were 
with Ghent. Answers of feeble loyalty came back 
to him from the majority of the other towns. Un- 
doubtedly they highly approved Ghent's efforts. 
They, too, could not afford to pay taxes fraught 
with danger to their commerce, nor to relinquish 
one jot of privileges dearly bought at successive 
crises throughout a long period of years. The 
only doubt in their minds was as to the ultimate 
success of the burghers to stem the course 
of Burgundian usurpation. Therefore, they first 
hedged, and then consented to aid the duke. 
This course was pursued by the Hollanders and 
the Zealanders, all alike short-sighted. 

The Ghenters succeeded in possessing them- 
selves of the castle of Poucque by force, and of the 
village of Gaveren by stratagem, taking advan- 
tage in the latter case of the castellan's absence 
at church. 

When every part of his dominions had been can- 
vassed for troops, and Philip was prepared for his 
first active campaign against Ghent, he was anx- 
ious to leave his heir under the protection of the 
duchess, conscious that the imminent contest 
would be bitter and deadly. A pretence was made 
that the young count's accoutrements were not 
ready, and that, therefore, he would have to re- 
main in Brussels. 

"But he whose ambitions waxed, hastened the com- 
pletion of his accoutrements, and swore by St. George, 



38 Charles the Bold 

the greatest oath he ever used, that he would rather 
go in his shirt than not accompany his father to pun- 
ish his impudent rebel subjects." ^ 

The approaching hostilities were watched by 
foreign merchants in dread of commercial disaster. 

"On May i8th, the nations^ of the merchants of 
Bruges departed thence to go to Ghent to try to make 
peace between that city and the Duke of Burgundy, 
and there were nations of Spain, Aragon, Portugal, 
and Scotland, besides the Venetians, Milanese, Genoese, 
and Luccans." ^ 

But the men of Ghent were beyond the point 
where commercial arguments could stem their 
course. The very day that this company ar- 
rived in the city, the burghers sallied forth six 
or seven thousand strong, fully equipped for 
offensive warfare. 

Both the actual engagements and guerilla skir- 
mishes that raged over a minute stretch of ter- 
ritory were characterised by an extraordinary 
ferocity. Around Oudenarde, which town Philip 
was determined to relieve, men were beheaded 
like sheep. 

In the first regular engagement in which Charles 
took part, he showed a brave front and learned 
the duties of a prince by rewarding others with the 
honour of knighthood. Among those slain in the 
course of the war, were Cornelius, Bastard of Bur- 

» La Marche, ii., 230. 

' Associations of merchants in foreign cities. 

3 Chastellain, CEuvres, ii., 221. 



Youth 39 

gundy, and the gallant Jacques de Lalaing. Philip 
grieved deeply over the death of the former, his 
favourite among his natural sons, and buried him 
with all honours in the Church of Ste-Gudule 
in Brussels. The title by which he was known, 
hardly a proud one it would seem, passed to his 
brother Anthony. Lalaing, too, was greatly 
mourned, thus prematurely cut down in his 
thirty-third year. 

There was so much fear lest the duke's sole legit- 
imate heir might also perish in these conflicts where 
there was no mercy, that Charles was persuaded 
to go to visit his mother in the hope that she would 
keep him by her side. She made a feast in his 
honour, but, to the surprise of all, the duchess, 
who had wished to protect her son from the mild 
perils of a tourney, now encouraged him with 
brave w^ords to return to fight in all earnest for his 
inheritance.^ He himself was very indignant at 
the efforts to treat him as a child. 

The first truce and negotiations for peace, in- 
itiated in the summer of 1452, were broken off 
because the conditions were unbearable to the 
Ghent ers. Another year of warfare followed before 
the decisive battle of Gaveren, in July, 1453, forced 
them sadly to succumb. There was no other 
course open to them. Not only were they de- 
feated but their numbers were decimated. 2 With 

1 La Marche, ii., 312. Chastellain, ii., 278. See also 
Chronique d' Adrian de Budt, p. 242, etc. 

2 Meyer, p. 313. La Marche, ii., 313, Lavisse, Histoire 
de France, accepts 13,000 as the number slain. Chastellain 
(ii., 375) puts the number at 22-30,000, including those 



40 Charles the Bold 

full allowance for exaggeration, it is certain that the 
loss was very heavy. Terms scornfully rejected at 
an earlier date were, in 1453, accepted with every 
humiliating detail. More, the defeated rebels were 
bidden to be grateful that their kind sovereign had 
imposed nothing further to the conditions. As to 
abating the severity of the articles, he declared 
that he would not change an a for a &.' 

The chief provisions were as follows: The 
deans of the gilds were deprived of participation 
in the election of sheriffs. The privileges of the 
naturalisation laws were considerably abridged. 
No sentence of banishment could be pronounced 
without the intervention of the duke's bailiff, 
whose authorisation, too, was required before 
the publication of edicts, ordinances, etc. The 
sheriffs were forbidden to place their names at the 
head of letters to the ofncers of the duke. The 
banners were to be delivered to the duke and 
placed under five locks, whose several keys should 
be deposited with as many different people, with- 
out whose consensus the banners could not be 
brought forth to lead the burghers to sedition. 
One gate was to be closed every Thursday in mem- 
ory of the day when the citizens had marched 
through it to attack their liege lord, and another 
was to be barred up in perpetuity or at the pleasure 
of their sovereign. To reimburse the duke for his 

drowned by the duke's order. Du Clercq lets a certain sym- 
pathy for the rebelHous people escape his pen. Chastellain 
and La Marche treat the antagonism to taxes as unreasonable, 

1 Chastellain, ii., 387. 



Youth 4 1 

enforced outlay, a heavy indemnity was to be paid 
by the city. 

July 30th was the date appointed for the final 
act of submission, the amende honorable of the 
unfortunate city. The scene was very similar to 
that played at Bruges in 1440. Two thousand 
citizens headed by the sheriffs, councillors, and 
captains of the burgher guard met the duke and 
his suite a league without the walls of Ghent. 
Bareheaded, barefooted, and divested of all their 
robes of office and of dignity, clad only in shirts 
and small clothes, these magistrates confessed 
that they had wronged their loving lord by unruly 
rebellion, and begged his pardon most humbl}^ 

The duke spent the night of July 29th at Gav- 
eren, prepared to march out in the morning with 
his whole army in handsome array. Philip was 
magnificently apparelled, but he rode the same 
horse which he had used on the day of battle, with 
the various wounds received on that day ostenta- 
tiously plastered over to make a dramatic show 
of what the injured sovereign had suffered at the 
hands of his disloyal subjects. 

The civic procession was headed by the Abbot 
of St. Bavon and the Prior of the Carthusians. 
The burghers who followed the half-clad officials 
were fully dressed but they, too, were barefoot and 
ungirdled. All prostrated themselves in the dust 
and cried, ''Mercy on the town of Ghent." While 
they were thus prostrate, the town spokesman of 
the council made an elaborate speech in French, 
assuring the duke that if, out of his benign grace, 



42 Charles the Bold 

he would take his loving and repentant subjects 
again into his favour, they would never again give 
him cause for reproach. 

"At the conclusion of this harangue, the duke and 
the Count of Charolais, there present, pardoned the 
petitioners for their evil deeds. The men of Ghent 
re-entered their town more happy and rejoiced than 
can be expressed, and the duke departed for Lille, 
having disbanded his army, that every one might 
return to their several homes." ^ 

The joy experienced by the conquered, here de- 
scribed by La Marche, as he looked back at the 
event from the calm retirement of his old age, was 
not visible to all eye-witnesses. The progress of 
this war was watched eagerly from other parts of 
Philip's dominion. His army was full of men from 
both the Burgundies, who sent frequent reports 
to their own homes. Some passages from one of 
these reports by an unknown war correspondent 
run as follows : 

"As to news from here, Monday after St. Magda- 
len's Day, Monseigneur the duke got the better of 
the Ghenters near Gaveren between ten and eleven 
o'clock. They attacked him near his quarters. . . . 
The duke risked his own person in advance of his 
company in the very worst of the slaughter, which 
lasted from the said place up to Ghent, a distance of 
about two leagues. The slain number three or four 
thousand, more or less, and those drowned in the river 
of Quaux about two hundred. . . . This Tuesday, 

iLa Marche, ii., 331. The Chastellain MS. is lacking for 
this event. 



Youth 43 

the date of writing, the army departs from their quar- 
ters to advance on Ghent to demand the conditions 
lately offered them, and the bearer of this letter will 
tell you what is the result. M. the duke and his army 
marched up to Ghent and I have seen the bearing of 
the citizens. They are very bitter and despondent. 
M. the marshall has been parleying. I hear that mat- 
ters have been settled. I hear that the Ghenters' loss 
is thirteen to fourteen thousand men. I cannot write 
more for I have no time owing to the haste of the 
messenger." 

This was written July 23d. There is another 
despatch of July 31st, giving the last news, which 
was "very joyous." The public apology had just 
been enacted — 

**and afterwards, in token of being conquered and as 
a confession that my said seigneur was victorious, 
those of Ghent have delivered up all their banners 
to the number of eighty. And on this day my said 
lord has created seven or eight knights and heralds 
in honour of his triumph, which is inestimable."^ 

The duke's victory was certainly ''inestimable" 
in its value to him, yet, in spite of the rigour en- 
forced on this defeated people, they were not 

1 Revue des societes savantes des departements, 7"^^. s6rie, 
6, p. 209. 

These two reports were enclosed with brief notes dated 
July 31 and August 8, 1453, from the ducal attorney at Amont 
to the magistrates of Baume. The former was one of the 
highest officials in the Franche-Comt6. The reporter might 
have been one of his secretaries. The two notes with their 
unsigned enclosures were discovered (i 881) in the archives of 
the town of Baume-les-Dames. 



44 Charles the Bold 

as crushed as they might have been had they 
submitted in 1445. Philip was clever enough to 
be more lenient than appeared at first. Ancient 
privileges were confirmed in a special compact, 
and the duke swore to maintain all former conces- 
sions in their entirety except in the points above 
specified. Liberty of person was guaranteed, 
and it was expressly stipulated that if the bailiff 
refused to sustain the sheriffs in their exercise of 
justice, or tried to arrogate to himself more than his 
due authority, he should forfeit his office. Lastly, 
and more important than all, the duke made 
no attempt to revive the demand for the gabelle 
— salt was left free and untaxed. As a matter of 
fact, too, the duke was not exigeant in the fulfil- 
ment of every item of the treaty and, two years 
later, he increased certain privileges. He had 
cut the lion's claws but he had no desire to 
pit his strength again with Flemish commimes. 
He had taught the audacious rebels a lesson and 
that sufficed him.^ 

1 Kervyn, Histoire de Flandre, iv., 494. 



CHAPTER III 

THE FEAST OF THE PHEASANT 
1454 

AFTER the fatigues of this contest with Ghent, 
followed a period of relaxation for the Bur- 
gundian nobles at Lille, where a notable round of 
gay festivities was enjoyed by the court. Adolph 
of Cleves inaugurated the series with an entertain- 
ment where, among other things, he delighted his 
friends by a representation of the tale of the mirac- 
ulous swan,i famous in the annals of his house 
for bringing the opportune knight down the Rhine 
to wed the forlorn heiress. 

When his satisfied guests took their leave, 
Adolph placed a chaplet on the head of one of the 
gentlemen, thus designating him to devise a 
new amusement for the company; and under 
the invitation lurked a tacit challenge to make 
the coming occasion more brilliant than the first. 
Again and again was this process repeated. Enter- 
tainment followed entertainment, all a mixture 
of repasts and vaudeville shows in whose prepara- 
tion the successive hosts vied with each other to 
attain perfection. 

The hard times, the stress of ready money, so 
eloquently painted when the merchants were im- 

1 A performance repeated in our modern Lohengrin. 
45 



46 Charles the Bold 

plored to take pity on their poverty-stricken lord, 
were cast into utter oblivion. It was harvest 
tide for skilled craftsmen and artisans. Any one 
blessed with a clever or fantastic idea easily 
found a market for the product of his brain. He 
could see his poetic or quaint conception presented 
to an applauding public with a wealth of para- 
phernalia that a modern stage manager would not 
scorn. How much the nobles spent can only be 
inferred from the ducal accounts, which are elo- 
quent with information about the creators of all 
this mimic pomp. About six sous a day was the 
wage earned by a painter, while the plumbers 
received eight. These latter were called upon to 
coax pliable lead into all sorts of shapes, often 
more grotesque than graceful. 

One fete followed another from the early autumn 
of 1453 to February, 1454, when ''The Feast of 
the Pheasant," as the ducal entertainment was 
called, crowned the series with an elaborate magni- 
ficence that has never been surpassed. 

Undoubtedly Philip possessed a genius for dra- 
matic effect and it is more than possible that he 
instigated the progressive banquets for the express 
purpose of leading up to the occasion with which 
he intended to dazzle Europe.^ 

For the duke's thoughts were now turned from 
civic revolts to a great international movement 
which he hoped to see set in motion. Almost 
coincident with the capitulation of Ghent to Phil- 
ip's will had been the capitulation of Constanti- 

1 The chroniclers are not at one on this point. 




COUNT OF ST. POL AND HIS JESTER 



The Feast of the Pheasant 47 

nople to the Turks. The event long dreaded by 
pope and Christendom had happened at last 
(May 29, 1453). Again and again was the neces- 
sity for a united opposition to the inroads of the 
dangerous infidels urged by Rome. On the eve 
of St. Martin, 1453, a legate arrived in Lille bring- 
ing an official letter from the pope, setting forth 
the dire stress of the Christian Church, and implor- 
ing the mightiest duke of the Occident to be her 
saviour, and to assume the leadership of a crusade 
in her behalf against the encroaching Turk. ^ 

Philip was ready to give heed to the prayer. 
Whatever the exact sequence of his plans in rela- 
tion to the court revels, the result was that his 
own banquet was utilised as a proper occasion for 
blazoning forth to the world with a flourish of trum- 
pets his august intention of dislodging the invader 
from the ancient capital of the Eastern empire. 

The superintendence of the arrangements for 
this all -eclipsing fete was entrusted, as La Marche 
relates, 

"to Messire Jehan, Seigneur de Lannoy, Knight of 
the Golden Fleece, and a skilful ingenious gentleman, 
and to one Squire Jehan Boudault, a notable and dis- 
creet man. And the duke honoured me so far that he 
desired me to be consulted. Several councils were 
held for the matter to which the chancellor and the 
first chamberlain were invited. The latte:' had just re- 
turned from the war in Luxemburg already described. 

*' These council meetings were very important and 
very private, and after discussion it was decided what 

1 Du Clercq, Memoires, ii., 159. 



48 Charles the Bold 

ceremonies and mysteries were to be presented. The 
duke desired that I should personate the character 
of Holy Church of which he wished to make use at 
this assembly." 

As in many half amateur affairs the prepara- 
tions took more time than was expected. At the 
first date set, all was not in readiness and the per- 
formance was postponed irntil February 17th. 
This entailed serious loss upon the provision mer- 
chants and the}^ received compensation for the 
spoiled birds and other perishable edibles. ^ 

The gala-day opened with a ^tournament at 
which Adolph of Cleves again sported as Knight 
of the Swan to the applause of the onlookers. 
After the jousting, the guests adjourned to the ban- 
queting hall, where fancy had indeed, run riot, to 
make ready for their admiring eyes and their 
sagacious palates. Entremets is the term ap- 

1 This banquet at Lille was the subject of several descrip- 
tions by spectators or at least contemporary authors. 

The Royal Library at the Hague possesses a manuscript 
copied from an older one which contains the order of proceed- 
ings together with the text of all vows. There is a minute 
description in Mathieu d'Escouchy, who claims to have been 
present, and in a manuscript coming from Baluze, whose 
anonymous author might also have been an eye-witness. Of 
the various versions, that of La Marche seems to be the most 
original. One record shows that "a clerk living at Dijon, 
called Dion du Cret, received, in 1455, a sum of five francs 
and a half for having, at the order of the accountants, copied 
and written in parchment the history of the banquet of my 
said seigneur, held at Lille, February 17, 1453, containing 
fifty-six leaves of parchment" (La Marche, ii., 340 note). 
It is possible that all the authors refreshed their memory with 
this account, which seems to have been merely a copy. 



The Feast of the Pheasant 49 

plied to the elaborate set pieces and side-shows 
provided to entertain the feasters between courses, 
and these were on an unprecedented scale. 

Three tables stood prepared respectively for 
the duke and his suite, for the Count of Charo- 
lais, his cousins, and their comrades, and for the 
knights and ladies. The first table was decorated 
with marvellous constructions, among which was 
a cruciform church whose mimic clock tower was 
capacious enough to hold a whole chorus of singers. 
The enormous pie in which twenty-eight musi- 
cians were discovered when the crust was cut may 
have been the original of that pasty whose opening 
revealed four-and-twenty blackbirds in a similar 
plight. Wild animals wandered gravely at a 
machinist's will through deep forests, but in 
the midst of the counterfeit brutes there was at 
least one live lion, for Gilles le Cat^ received twenty 
shillings from the duke for the chain and locks 
he made to hold the savage beast fast '' on the day 
of the said banquet. ' ' 

Again there was an anchored ship, manned with 
a full crew and rigged completely. **I hardly 
think," observes La Marche, ''that the greatest 
ship in the world has a greater number of ropes 
and sails." 

Before the guests seated themselves they 
wandered around the hall and inspected the 
decorations one by one. Nor was their admiration 
exhausted when they turned to the discussion of the 
toothsome dainties provided for their delectation. 

1 Laborde, i., 127. 



50 Charles the Bold 

During the progress of the banquet, the story of 
Jason was enacted. Time there certainly was for 
the play. La Marche estimated forty-eight dishes 
to every course, though he qualifies his statement 
by the admission that his memory might be inex- 
act. These dishes were wheeled over the tables 
in little chariots before each person in turn. 

" Such were the mundane marvels that graced 
the fete," is the conclusion of La Marche's^ ex- 
haustive enumeration of the masterpieces from 
artists' workshops and ducal kitchen 

"I will leave them now to record a pity moving 
entremets which seemed to be more special than the 
others. Through the portal whence the previous 
actors had made their entrance, came a giant larger 
without artifice than any I had ever seen, clad in a long 
green silk robe, a turban on his head like a Saracen in 
Granada. His left hand held a great, old-fashioned 
two-bladed axe, his right hand led an elephant covered 
with silk. On its back was a castle wherein sat a 
lady looking like a nun, wearing a mantle of black 
cloth and a white head-dress like a recluse. ^ 

"Once within the hall and in sight of the noble 
company, like one who had work before her, she said 
to the giant, her conductor: 

" * Giant, prithee let me stay 
For I spy a noble throng 
To whom I wish to speak.* 

"At these words her guide conducted his charge 

^ 11., 361. 

2 The text says in the Burgundian or recluse fashion. Be- 
guine is probably the right reading. 



The Feast of the Pheasant 5 1 

before the ducal table and there she made a piteous 
appeal to all assembled to come to rescue her, Holy- 
Church, fallen into the hands of unbelieving miscre- 
ants. As soon as she ceased speaking a body of offi- 
cers entered the hall, Toison d'Or, king-at-arms, 
bringing up the rear. This last carried a live pheas- 
ant ornamented with a rich collar of gold studded 
with jewels. Toison d'Or was followed by two maid- 
ens. Mademoiselle Yolande, bastard daughter of the 
duke, and Isabelle of Neufchatel, escorted by two gen- 
tlemen of the Order. They all proceeded to the host. 
After greetings, Toison d'Or then said: 

'"High and puissant prince and my redoubtable 
lord, here are ladies who recommend themselves very 
humbly to you because it is, and has been, the custom 
at great feasts and noble assemblies to present to the 
lords and nobles a peacock or some other noble bird 
whereon useful and valid vows may be made. I am 
sent hither with these two demoiselles to present to you 
this noble pheasant, praying you to remember them.' 

"When these words were said, Monseigneur the 
duke, who knew for what purpose he had given 
the banquet, looked at the personified Church, and 
then, as though in pity for her stress, drew from his 
bosom a document containing his vow to succour 
Christianity, as will appear later. The Church mani- 
fested her joy, and seeing that m}^ said seigneur had 
given his vow to Toison d'Or, she again burst forth 
forth into rhyme : 

"'God be praised and highly served 

By thee, my son, the foremost peer in France. 
Thy sumptuous bearing have I close observed 
Until it seemed thou wert reserved 



52 Charles the Bold 

To bring me my deliverance. 

Near and far I seek alliance 
And pray to God to grant thee grace 
To work His pleasure in thy place. 

'**0 every prince and noble, man and knight, 
Ye see your master pledged to worthy deed. 
Abandon ease, abjure delight, 
Lift up your hand, each in his right. 
Offer God the savings from thy greed. 
I take my leave, imploring each, indeed. 
To risk his life for Christian gain, 
To serve his God and 'suage my pain.' 

*' At this the giant led off the elephant and departed 
by the same way in which he had entered. 

''When I had seen this entremets, that is, the 
Church and a castle on the back of such a strange 
beast, I pondered as to whether I could understand 
what it meant and could not make it out otherwise 
except that she had brought this beast, rare among 
us, in sign that she toiled and laboured in great advers- 
ity in the region of Constantinople, whose trials we 
know, and the castle in which she was signified Faith. 
Moreover, because this lady was conducted by this 
mighty giant, armed, I inferred that she wished to 
denote her dread of the Turkish arms which had 
chased her away and sought her destruction. 

"As soon as this play was played out, the noble 
gentlemen, moved by pity and compassion, hastened 
to make vows, each in his own fashion." 

The vow of the Count of Charolais was as 
follows : 

"I swear to God my creator, and to His glorious 



The Feast of the Pheasant 53 

mother, to the ladies and to the pheasant, that, if my 
very redoubtable lord and father embark on this 
holy journey, and if it be his pleasure that I ac- 
company him, I will go and will serve him as well 
as I can and know how to do." 

Other vows were less simple: all kinds of fan- 
tastic conditions being appended according to in- 
dividual fancy. One gentleman decided never 
to go to bed on a Saturday until his pledge were 
accomplished. Another that he would eat no- 
thing on Fridays that had ever lived until he had 
had an opportunity of meeting the enemy hand 
to hand, and of attacking, at peril of his life, the 
banner of the Grand Turk. 

Philip Pot vowed never to sit at table on a Tues- 
day and to wear no protection on his right arm. 
This last the duke refused to permit. Hugues de 
Longueval vowed that when he had once turned 
his face to the East he would abstain from wine 
until he had plunged his sword in an infidel's blood, 
and that he would devote two years to the crusade 
even if he had to remain all alone, provided Con- 
stantinople were not recovered. Louis de Chev- 
elast swore that no covering should protect his 
head until he had come to within four leagues of 
the infidels, and that he would fight a Turk on foot 
with nothing on his arm but a glove. There was 
the same emulation in the vows as in the banquets 
and many of the self-imposed penalties were as 
bizarre as the side-shows. 

There were so many chevaliers eager to bind 
themselves to the enterprise that the prolonged 



54 Charles the Bold 

ceremony threatened to become tedious. The 
duke, therefore, declared that the morrow would 
be equally valid as the day. ^ 

"To abridge my tale [continues La Marche], the 
banquet was finished and the cloth removed and every 
one began to walk around the room. To me it seemed 
like a dream, for, of all the decorations, soon nothing 
remained but the crystal fountain. When there was 
no further spectacle to distract me, then my under- 
standing began to work and various considerations 
touching this business came into my mind. First, I 
pondered upon the outrageous excess and great ex- 
pense incurred in a brief space by these banquets, for 
this fashion of progressive entertainments, with the 
hosts designated by chaplets, had lasted a long time. 
All had tried to outshine their predecessors, and all, 
especially my said lord, had spent so much that I 
considered the whole thing outrageous and without 
any justification for the expense, except as regarded 
the entremets of the Church and the vows. Even that 
seemed to me too lightly treated for an important 
enterprise. 

"Meditating thus I found myself by chance near a 
gentleman, councillor and chamberlain, who was in 
my lord's confidence and with whom I had some ac- 
quaintance. To him I imparted my thoughts in the 
course of a friendly chat and his comment was as 
follows : 

"'My friend, I know positively that these chaplet 

J Mathieu d'Escouchy (ii., 222) gives all the vows as though 
made then, and differs in many unessential points from La 
Marche 's account. 

The Count of St. Pol was the only knight present who made 
his going dependent on the consent of the King of France, a 
condition very displeasing to his liege lord of Burgundy. 



The Feast of the Pheasant 55 

entertainments would never have occurred except by 
the secret desire of the duke to lead up to this very 
banquet where he hoped to achieve a holy purpose 
and to resist the enemies of our faith. It is three 
years now since the distress of our Church was pre- 
sented to the Knights of the Golden Fleece at Mons. 
My lord there dedicated his person and his wealth 
to her service. Since then occurred the rebellion of 
Ghent, which entailed upon him a loss of time and 
money. Thanks be to God, he has attained there a 
good and honourable peace, as every one knows. 
Now it has chanced that, during this very period, the 
Turks have encroached on Christianity still further in 
their capture of Constantinople. The need of succour 
is very pressing and all that you have witnessed to-day 
is proof that the good duke is intent on the weal of 
Christendom. ' ' ' 

During the progress of this conversation, a new 
company was ushered into the hall, preceded by 
musicians. Here came Grdce Dieu, clad as a nun 
followed by twelve knights dressed in grey and 
black velvet ornamented with jewels. Not alone 
did they come. Each gentleman escorted a dame 
wearing a coat of satin cramoisy over a fur-edged 
roimd skirt a la Portuguaise. Grdce Dieu declared 
in rhyme that God had heard the pious resolution 
of Duke Philip of Burgundy. He had forthwith 
sent her with her twelve attendants to promise 
him a happy termination to his enterprise. Her 
ladies, Faith, Charity, Justice, Reason, Prudence, 
and their sisters, were then presented to him. 
Grdce Dieu departs alone and no sooner has she 
disappeared than Philip's new attributes begin to 



56 Charles the Bold 

dance to add to the good cheer. Among the knights 
was Charles and one of his half-brothers; among 
the ladies was Margaret, Bastard of Burgundy, 
and the others were all of high birth. Not until 
two o'clock did the revels finally cease. 

It must be noted that La Marche's reflections 
upon the extravagance of the entertainment occur 
also in Escouchy's memoirs. Probably both drew 
their moralising from another author. It is 
stated by several reputable chroniclers that Olivier 
de la Marche himself represented the Church. That 
he merely wrote her lines is far more probable. 
Female performers certainly appeared freely in 
these as in other masques, and there was no 
reason for putting a handsome youth in this role 
of the captive Church. In mentioning the plans 
that La Marche claims to have heard discussed 
in the council meeting, he says plainly that he 
was to play the role of Holy Church, but as he 
makes no further allusion to the fact, it may be 
dismissed as one of his careless statements. 

This pompous announcement of big plans was 
the prelude to nothing! Yet it was by no means 
a farce when enacted. Philip fully intended to 
make this crusade the crowning event of his 
life, and his proceedings immediately after the 
great fete were all to further that end. To obtain 
allies abroad, to raise money at home, and to en- 
sure a peaceful succession for his son in case of his 
own death in the East — such were the cares de- 
manding the duke's attention, 



The Feast of the Pheasant 57 

The twenty-year-old Count of Charolais was 
entrusted with the regency for the term of his 
father's sojourn abroad in quest of alhes, and 
he hastened to Holland to assume the reins of 
government, but he was speedily recalled to Lille 
to submit once more to paternal authority before 
being left to his own devices and to maternal 
bias. 

For the ducal pair disagreed seriously on the 
subject of their son's second marriage. Isabella 
wished that a bride should be sought in England, 
and this wish was apparently echoed by Charles 
himself. The important topic was discussed with 
more or less freedom among the young courtiers, 
until the drift of the conversations, whose burden 
was wholly adverse to his own fixed purpose, came 
to Philip's ears, together with the information 
that one of his own children was among those who 
incited the count to independent desires about his 
future wife. Very stem was the duke in his repri- 
mand to the two young men. He acknowledged 
that force of circumstances had once led him into 
friendly bonds with the foes of his own France, 
but never had he been "English at heart." 
Charles must accept his father's decision on pain 
of disinheritance. "As for this bastard," Philip 
added, turning to the other son, destitute of 
status in the eyes of the law, " if I find that he 
counsels you to oppose my will, I will have 
him tied up in a sack and thrown into the 
sea."i ^ • 

iDu Clercq, ii., 203. 



58 Charles the Bold 

The bride selected for the heir was Isabella of 
Bourbon, daughter of the duke's sister, and the 
betrothal was hastily made. Even the ap- 
proval of the bride's parents was dispensed with. 
This passed the more easily as the young lady her- 
self was conveniently present in the Burgundian 
court under the guardianship of her aunt, the 
duchess, who had superintended her education. 
A papal dispensation was more necessary than 
paternal consent, but that, too, was waived as far 
as the betrothal was concerned. To that extent 
was Philip obeyed. Then Charles returned to 
Holland and his father proceeded to Germany to 
obtain imperial co-operation in his Eastern enter- 
prise. 

The duke's departure from Lille was made very 
privately at five o'clock in the morning. He was 
off before his courtiers were aware of his last 
preparations. That was a surprise, but not the 
only one in store for those left behind. In 
order to save every penny for his journey, Philip 
ordered radical retrenchment in his household 
expenses. The luxurious repasts served to his 
retainers were abolished and all alike found them- 
selves forced to restrict their appetites to the dain- 
ties they could purchase with the table allowance 
accorded them. "The court's leg is broken," 
said Michel, the rhetorician. ^ 

In his own outlay there was no stinting; the 
duke's progress was pompous and stately as 

»" Michel dit que le gigot de la cour ^tait rompu." — La 
Marche, i., ch, xiv. 



The Feast of the Pheasant 59 

was his wont. As he traversed Switzerland, 
Berne, Zurich, and Constance asked and ob- 
tained permission to show their friendship with 
ceremonious receptions. Loud were the cries of 
j " Vive Bourgogne.'' Equally hospitable were the 
German cities. Game, wine, fodder, were offered 
for the traveller's use at every stage, as he and his 
suite rode to the imperial diet. 

At Ratisbon, disappointment greeted him. The 
emperor whom he had come so far to see in person 
failed to appear. Unwilling to accede to the plan of 
co-operation, afraid to give an open refusal, Frederic 
simply avoided hearing the request. Essentially 
lazy, he shrank from committing himself to a diffi- 
cult enterprise, nor was his ambition tempted by 
possible glory. It had cost no pang to refuse the 
crown of Bohemia and Hungary. But even had 
he been personally ambitious he might still have 
been slow to lend his adherence to the duke's pro- 
ject, in the not unnatural dread lest the flashing 
renown of the greatest duke of the Occident might 
throw a poor emperor as ally into the shade. The 
very warmth of Philip's reception in Germany had 
chilled Frederic. From a retreat in Austria, he 
sent his secretary, ^neas Sylvius, to represent 
him at Ratisbon, a substitution far from pleasing 
to the visitor. 

There were other defections, too, from the 
diet. None of those present was in a position to 
aid Philip in furthering his schemes. The matter 
was brought forward and laid on the table to be 
discussed at the next diet, appointed to meet in 



6o Charles the Bold 

November at Frankfort. But Philip would not 
wait for that. Germany did not agree with him. 
He was not well. Rumours there were of various 
kinds about his reasons for returning home. They 
do not seem to require much explanation, however. 
He had not been met half way in Germany and 
was highly displeased at the failure. Declining 
all further entertainment proffered by the cities, 
he travelled back to Besangon by way of Stuttgart 
and Basel. In the early autumn he was at 
Dijon. 

During this summer, negotiations about Charles's 
marriage had continued. The Duke of Bourbon 
was inclined to chaffer about the dowry demanded 
by Philip. One of the estates asked for was 
Chinon, and it was urged that it, a male fief, 
was not capable of alienation. Philip was not 
inclined to accept this reason as final and the 
negotiations hung fire, much to the distress of the 
Duchess of Bourbon, who feared a breach be- 
tween her husband and brother. Naive are the 
phrases in one of her letters as quoted by 
Chastellain^ : 

"My very dear Seigneur and Brother, 

"I have heard all Boudault's message from you. . . 
To be brief, Monseigneur is content and ready to ac- 
cede the points that you demand. It seems to me 
that you ought to give him easy terms and that you 
ought to put aside any grudge you may cherish against 
him. Monseigneur, since I consider the thing as 
donfe, I beg you to celebrate the nuptials as soon as 

» Chastellain, iii., 20, note. 



The Feast of the Pheasant 6i 

possible although not without me as you have 
promised me."^ 

The king, too, was interested in the matter, and 
wrote as follows to Duke Philip : 

**Dear and much loved Brother: 

''Some time ago my cousin of Bourbon informed 
me of the negotiations for the marriage of my cousin 
of Charolais, your son, to my cousin Isabella of Bour- 
bon, his daughter, which marriage has been deferred, 
as he writes me, because he does not wish to alienate 
to his daughter the seignory of Chateau- Chinon. It 
is not possible for him to do this on account of the 
marriage agreement of our daughter Jeanne and my 
cousin of Clermont, his son, wherein it was stipulated 
that Chateau- Chinon should go to them and their 
heirs. Moreover, it cannot descend in the female 
line, and in default of heirs male it must return to the 
crown as a true appanage of France. 

"Lest, perad venture, you may doubt the truth of 
this, and imagine that the point is urged by our cousin 
of Bourbon simply as an excuse for not ceding the 
estate, we assure you that it is true, and was consid- 
ered in arranging the alliance of our daughter so that 
it is beyond the power of our cousin of Bourbon to 
make any alienation or transfer of the territory at the 
marriage of his daughter. We never would have 
permitted the marriage of our daughter without this 
express settlement. With this consideration it seems 
to me that you ought not to block the marriage in 
question, especially as my cousin says he is offering 
you an equivalent. He cannot do more as we have 
charged our councillor, the bailiff of Berry, to explain 
to you in full. So pray do not postpone the marriage 

1 ' ' Toute f ois que ce ne soit pas sans moy . " 



62 Charles the Bold 

for the above cause or for any cause, if by the permis- 
sion of the Church and of our Holy Father it can be 
lawfully completed. 

"Given at Romorantin, Oct. 17. 

"Charles.^ 

Chaligaut." 

As the marriage was an event of importance, 
and the circumstances are simple historic facts, it 
is strange that there should be any uncertainty 
regarding the details of its solemnisation. But 
there is a certain vagueness about the narratives. 
One version is so amusing that it deserves a slight 
consideration. 2 The chronicler relates how 
Charles VII. felt some uneasiness at the delay 
in the negotiations. Conscious of the senti- 
ments of the Duchess of Burgundy, he feared lest 
her well-known sympathies for England might 
prevail in the final decision. 

When Philip had returned to Dijon, the bailiff 
of Berry came as the king's special envoy to dis- 
cuss some aspects of the subject with him. 
The mission was gladly undertaken as the mes- 
senger had never seen Philip nor his court and 
he was pleased at the chance of meeting a person- 
age whose fame rang through Europe. Very gra- 
ciously was he received by the duke, who read the 
king's letters attentively and replied to the envoy's 
messages in general terms of courteous recognition, 
without making his own intention manifest. The 

iThe original, signed, is in the Archives de la Cdte-d'Or, B. 
200. See Du Fresne de Beaucourt, Histoire de Charles VII., v. 
470. 

zChastellain, iii., 23, etc. 



The Feast of the Pheasant 63 

bailiff waited for an answer, finding, in the mean- 
while, that his days passed very agreeably. 

As a matter of fact, before his arrival at Dijon 
Philip Pot had set out for the Netherlands, bear- 
ing the duke's orders to his son to celebrate his 
nuptials without further delay. The duke did 
not intend to be influenced by any one. It was 
his will that his son should accept the bride se- 
lected and that was all sufficient. The reason 
why the duke detained the king's messenger was 
that he " awaited news from Messire Philip de Pot, 
whom he had sent in all speed to his son to hasten 
the wedding. "1 The said gentleman found the 
count at Lille with the duchess, his mother, and 
he was so diligent in the discharge of his mission 
that he made all the arrangements himself and 
saw the wedding rites solemnised immediately. 
The bridegroom did not even know of the plan 
until the night preceding the important day. 
Then Philip Pot rode back to Dijon. 

When the duke was assured that the alliance 
was irrevocabl}^ sealed he was quite ready to ans- 
wer the king's messenger, whom he at once invited 
to an audience. In a casual fashion Philip 
remarked : 

" Now bailiff, the king sent you hither about a 
matter which I am humbly grateful for his interest 
in. You know my opinion. I had no desire to 
dissemble. Here is a gentleman fresh from 
Flanders ; ask him his news and note his reply." 

*'What tidings. Monsieur, do you bring us? 

» Chastellain, iii., 24 



64 Charles the Bold 

Prithee impart it " said the bailiff to the chevalier. 
And the gentleman, laughing, replied: "By my 
faith, Monsieur bailiff, the greatest news that 
I know is that Monseigneur de Charolais is 
married! " 

''Married! to whom?" 

"To whom?" responded the chevalier, ''why, to 
his first cousin, Monseigneur's niece." 

Merry was the duke over the Frenchman's 
blank amazement. Again the latter had to be 
reassured of the truth of the statement. Philip 
Pot told him that it was so true that the wedded 
pair had spent the night together according to 
their lawful right. 

The bailiff did not know which way to turn . "So 
he acted out his two roles. Returning thanks to 
the duke in the king's name with all formality, he 
then joined in the general laugh over the unsus- 
pected trick. He was a man of the world and 
knew how to take advantage of sense and of 
folly." 

It was on the morrow of this hasty tying of the 
wedding knot that the Countess of Charolais sent 
a messenger to announce the fact to her parents. 
They seem to have been perfectly satisfied, made 
no further objection to any point, and the mooted 
territory of Chinon made part of the dower in 
spite of the reasons urged against it. 

As to the bailiff, when he made his adieux at 
Dijon, Philip presented him with a round dozen 
stirrup cups, each worth three silver marks, and 
he went home a surprised and delighted man. 



The Feast of the Pheasant 65 

"About this time [says Alienor de Poictiers] Mon- 
sieur de Charolais married Mademoiselle de Bourbon 
and he married her on the eve of All Saintsi at Lille, 
and there was no festival because Duke Philip was 
then in Germany. Eight days after the nuptials the 
duchess gave a splendid banquet where were all the 
ladies of Lille, but they were seated all together, 
as is usually done at an ordinary banquet, without 
mesdames holding state as would have been proper 
for such an occasion." 

It is evident from all the stories that Charles 
protested against his father's orders as much as 
he dared and then obeyed simply because he could 
not help himself. 

Yet, strange to say, the unwilling bridegroom 
proved a faithful husband in a court where mar- 
ital fidelity was a rare trait. 

Philip's plans for the international union against 
the Turk were less easily completed than those 
for the union of his son and his niece. In Novem- 
ber, the diet met at Frankfort ; the expedition was 
discussed and some resolutions were passed, but 
nothing further was achieved. 

Charles VII. would not even promise co-opera- 
tion on paper. He had gradually extended his 
own domain in French-speaking territory and had 
dislodged the English from every stronghold ex- 
cept Guisnes and Calais. Under him France was 

» The chroniclers differ as to this date. Chastellain (iii., 
25) says the first Sunday in Lent. D'Escouchy (ii., 270, ch. 
cxxii) the night of St. Martin. Alienor de Poictiers, Hallow- 
e'en (Les HonneuTis de la Cour, p. 187). The last was one 
of Isabella's ladies in waiting. 
5 



66 Charles the Bold 

regaining her prestige. Charles had much to lose, 
therefore, in joining the undertaking urged by 
Phihp and he was wholly unwilling to risk it. 
From him Phihp obtained only expressions of 
general interest in the repulse of the Turks, and 
more definite suggestions of the dangers that 
would menace Western Europe if all her natural 
defenders carried their arms and their fortunes 
to the East. 

When the anniversary of the great f^te came 
round not a vow was yet fulfilled 1 



CHAPTER IV. 

BURGUNDY AND FRANCE 
1455-1456. 

THE duke's journey failed in accomplishing its 
object, but it proved an important factor in 
the development of the character of Charles of 
Burgundy. The opportunity to administer the 
government in his father's absence changed him 
from a youth to a man, and the manner of man he 
was, was plain to see. 

His character was built on singularly simple 
lines. Vigorous of body, intense of purpose, in- 
clined to melancholy, he was profoundly convinced 
of his own importance as heir to the greatest duke 
in Christendom, as future successor to an un- 
crowned potentate, who could afford to treat 
lightly the authority of both king and emperor 
whose nominal vassal he was. 

The Ghent episode, too, undoubtedly had an 
immense effect in enhancing the count's belief in 
his father's power, in causing him to forget that 
the communes of Flanders did not owe their exist- 
ence to their overlord. As yet, Charles of Bur- 
gundy had not met a single check to his self-esteem, 
to his family pride. As a governor, he probably 
exercised his brief authority with the rigour of 
one new to the helm. 

67 



68 Charles the Bold 

"And the Count of Charolais bore himself so well 
andso virtuously in the task, that nothing deteriorated 
under his hand, and when the good duke returned 
from his journey, he found his lands as intact as 
before." 

Such is La Marche's testimony. ^ Intact un- 
doubtedly, but possibly the satisfaction was not 
quite perfect. Du Clercq^ declares that Count 
Charles acquitted himself honourably of his charge 
and made himself respected as a magistrate. 
Above all, he insisted that justice should be dealt 
out to all alike. The only danger in his methods 
was that he acted on impulse without sufficiently 
informing himself of the matter in hand, or hearing 
both sides of a controversy. As a residt, his de- 
cisions were not always impartial and the father 
was preferred to the strenuous and impetuous son. 
* * Not that Philip was often inclined to recognise 
other law than his own will, but he was more 
tranquil, more gentle than his son, and more 
guided by reason," adds a later author.^ There 
was an evident dread as to what might be the 
outcome of the count's untrained, youthful ardour. 

The duke's chief measures after his return in 
February, 1455, seemed hardly calculated to 
arouse any great personal devotion to himself or 
a profound trust that his first consideration was 
for the advantage of his Netherland subjects. His 
thoughts were still turned to the East, and his 
main interest in the individual cotmtships was as 
sources of supply for his Holy War. Considerable 

»!., ch. xxxi. 2 11.^ 204. 3 Barante, vi., 50. 




STATUE OF CHARLES THE BOLD AT INNSBRUCK 



Burgundy and France 69 

sums flowed into his exchequer that were never 
used for their destined purpose, but the duke can- 
not be justly accused of actual bad faith in amass- 
ing them. His intention to make the Eastern 
campaign remained firm for some years. 

In another matter, his despotic exercise of per- 
sonal authority, far without the pale of his juris- 
diction inherited or acquired, shows no shadow 
of excuse. 

In the bishropic of Utrecht the ecclesiastical 
head was also lay lord. Here the counts of Hol- 
land possessed no voice. They were near neigh- 
bours, that was all. Philip ardently desired to be 
more in this tiny independent state in the midst of 
territories acknowledging his sway. 

In 1455, the see of Utrecht became vacant and 
Philip was most anxious to have it filled by his son 
David, whom he had already made Bishop of 
Therouanne by somewhat questionable methods. 
The Duke of Guelders also had a neighbourly in- 
terest in Utrecht and he, too, had a pet candidate, 
Stephen of Bavaria, whose election he urged. 
The chapter resolutely ignored the wishes of both 
dukes and the canons were almost unanimous in 
their choice of Gijsbrecht of Brederode.^ 

A very few votes were cast for Stephen of Ba- 
varia, but not a single one for David of Burgundy. 

1 Some of the canons wrote their reasons after their recorded 
vote: "Because Duke Philip had made the candidate mem- 
ber of his council of Holland, Zealand, and Friesland, in which 
office Gijsbrecht had acquitted himself well." "Because all 
the Sticht nobles were his relations," etc. — (Wagenaar, Vader- 
landsche Historic, iv., 50.) 



70 Charles the Bold 

Brederode was already aichdeacon of the cathe- 
dral and an eminently worthy choice, both for his 
attainments and for his character. He was pro- 
claimed in the cathedral, installed in the palace, 
and confirmed, as regarded his temporal power, 
by the emperor. 

Philip, however, refused to accept the returns, 
although not a single suffrage had been cast by 
the qualified electors for his son. He despatched 
the Bishop of Arras to Rome to petition the new 
pope, Calixtus IH., to refuse to ratify the late 
election and to confer the see upon David, out of 
hand. Philip's tender conscience found Gijs- 
brecht ineligible to an episcopal office because 
he had participated in the war against Ghent, 
certainly a weak plea in an age of militant bishops ! 

The pope was afraid to offend the one man in 
Europe upon whose immediate aid he counted in 
the Turkish campaign. He accepted the gift of 
four thousand ducats offered by Gijsbrecht's en- 
voys, the customary gift in asking papal con- 
firmation for a bishop-elect, but secretly he de- 
livered to Philip's ambassador letters patent 
creating David of Burgundy Bishop of Utrecht. ^ 

The Burgundian La Marche states euphemis- 
tically that David w^as elected to the see, and the 
Deventer people would not obey him, therefore 
Philip had to levy an army and come in person to 
support the new bishop. ^ Du Clercq puts a 
different colour on the story and d'Escouchy^ 

1 Du Clercq, ii., 210. 2 Memoires, i., ch. xxxiii. 3 H.^ 315. 



Burgundy and France 71 

implies that the whole trouble arose from party 
strife which had to be quelled in the interests of 
law and order. 

Apart from any question of insult to the Utrecht- 
ers by imposing upon them a spiritual director of 
acknowledged base birth, the right of choice lay 
with them and the emperor had confirmed their 
choice as far as the lay office was concerned. 
While the issue was undecided, the Estates 
of Utrecht appointed Gijsbrecht guardian and 
defender of the see to assure him a legal status 
pending the papal ratification. The people were 
prepared to support their candidate with arms, a 
game that Philip did not refuse, and the force of 
thirty thousand men with which he invaded the 
bishopric proved the stronger argument of the two 
and able to carry David of Burgundy to the 
episcopal throne, upon which he was seated in 
his father's presence, October 16, 1455. 

Some of Philip's allies reaped certain advan- 
tages from the situation. Alkmaar and Kenne- 
merland redeemed certain forfeited privileges 
by means of their contributions to the duke's 
army. The city of Utrecht preferred a compro- 
mise to the risk of war. The bishop-elect, Gijs- 
brecht, consented to withdraw his claim, being 
permitted to retain the humbler office of provost 
of Utrecht and an annuity of four thousand guilders 
out of the episcopal revenues. 

Deventer was the only place which was obsti- 
nate enough to persist in her rebellion and Philip 
was engaged in bringing her citizens to terms by a 



72 Charles the Bold 

siege when news was brought to him that a visitor 
had arrived at Brussels under circumstances which 
imperatively demanded his personal attention. 

In the twenty years that had elapsed since the 
Treaty of Arras, there had been great changes in 
France in the character both of the reahn and of 
the ruler. Little by little the latter had proved 
himself to be a very different person from the in- 
ert king of Bourges.i Old at twenty, Charles VII. 
seemed young and vigorous at forty. Bad advisers 
were replaced by others better chosen and his ad- 
ministration gradually became effective. Fortune 
favoured him in depriving England of the Duke of 
Bedford (1435), "the one man who might have 
maintained English prestige abroad and peace at 
home during the youth of Henry VI. It was at a 
time of civil dissensions in England, that Charles 
VII. succeeded in assuming the offensive on the 
Continent and in wresting Normandy and Guienne 
from the late invader. 

But this territorial advantage was not all. Dis- 
tinct progress had been made towards a national 
existence in France. The establishment of the 
nucleus of a regular army was an immense aid 
in curbing the depredations of the '' ecorcheurs,'' 
the devastating, marauding bands which had 
harassed the provinces. There was new activity 
in agriculture and industry and commerce. 2 The 
revival of letters and art, never completely stifled, 
proved the real vitality of France in spite of the 

iSee Lavisse, iv"., 317. 2 For the effects of operations on a 
large scsdeseeJacquesCceurand Charles K//., by Pierre Cl^mart, 



Burgundy and France 73 

depression of the Hundred Years' War. Royal 
justice was reorganised, public finance was better 
administered. By 1456^ misery had not, indeed, 
disappeared, but it was less dominant. 

The years of growing union between king and 
his kingdom were, however, years of discord 
between Charles and his son. The dauphin Louis 
had not enjoyed the pampered, petted life of his 
Burgundian cousin. Very poor and forlorn was 
his father at the time of the birth of his heir 
(1423).^ There was nothing in the treasury to 
pay the chaplain who baptised the child or the 
woman who nourished him. The latter received 
no pension as was usual but a modest gratuity of 
fifteen pounds. The first allowance settled on 
the heir to his unconsecrated royal father's un- 
certain fortunes was ten crowns a month. Every 
feature of his infancy was a marked contrast to 
the early life of the Count of Charolais. 

From his seventeenth year Louis was in 
active opposition to the king, heading organised 
rebellion against him in the war called the Pra- 
guerie. Finally, Charles VIL entrusted to his 
charge the administration of Dauphine, thus prac- 
tically banishing him honourably from the court 
where he was, evidently, a disturbing element. 
The only restrictions placed upon him in his pro- 
vincial government were such as were necessary 
to preserve the ultimate authority of the crown. 
To these restrictions, however, Louis paid not 
the slightest heed. He assumed all the airs of 

2 DucIqs, "Hist, de Louis XL," CEuvres Completes y., 8. 



74 Charles the Bold 

an independent sovereign. He made wars and 
treaties with his neighbours and at last proceeded 
to arrange his own marriage. 

At this time Louis was already a widower, hav- 
ing been married at the age of thirteen to Margaret 
of Scotland, who led a mournful existence at the 
French court, where she felt herself a desolate 
alien. Her death at the age of twenty was possi- 
bly due to slander. *'Fie upon life," she said on 
her deathbed, when urged to rouse herself to resist 
the languor into which she was sinking. ''Talk 
to me no more of it." 

Her husband cared less for her life than did 
Margaret herself. He took no interest in the 
inquiry set on foot to ascertain the truth of the 
charges against the princess, and was more than 
ready to turn to a new alliance. At the date of 
his widowerhood he was in Dauphine and his 
own choice for a wife was Charlotte, daughter of 
the Duke of Savoy. After negotiations in his 
own behalf he informed his father of his matri- 
monial project. It did not meet the views of 
Charles VH., who ordered his son to abandon the 
idea immediately. 

A messenger was despatched post haste to Cham- 
bery to stop the dauphin's nuptials.^ The duke 
evaded an interview and the envoy was forced 
to deliver his letter to the chancellor of Savoy. 
On the morrow of his arrival, he was taken to 
church, where the wedding ceremony was performed 
(March lo, 145 1) , but his seat was in such a remote 

1 Duclos, iii., 78. 



Burgundy and France 75 

place that he could barely catch a gHmpse of the 
bridal procession, though he saw that Louis was 
clad in crimson velvet trimmed with ermine. Two 
days later the envoy carried a pleasant letter to 
the king, expressing regrets on the part of the 
Duke of Savoy that the alliance was made before 
the paternal prohibition arrived. 

Nine 3^ears were spent by Louis in Dauphine. 
He introduced many administrative and judicial 
reforms, excellent in themselves but not popular. 
There were various protests and when he dared to 
impose taxes without the consent of the Estates, 
an appeal was made to the king begging him to 
check his son in his illegal assumptions. Charles 
summoned his son to his presence. Instead of 
obeying this order in person, Louis sent envoys 
who were dismissed by his father with a curt re- 
sponse: "Let my son return to his duty and he 
shall be treated as a son. As to his fears, security 
to his person is pledged by my word, which my 
foes have never refused to accept." ' 

Louis showed himself less compliant than his 
father's foes. As Charles approached Dauphine, 
and made his preparations to enforce obedience, 
Louis appealed to the mediation of the pope, of the 
Duke of Burgundy, and of the King of Castile, 
beside sending offerings to all the chief shrines in 
Christendom, ixnploring aid against parental wrath. 
Then his thoughts took a less peaceful turn. He 
called the nobles of his principality to arms and 
bade the fortified towns prepare for siege, while 

1 See Lavisse, iv"., 292. 



1^ Charles the Bold 

he loftily declared that he would not trouble his 
father to seek him. He would raeet him at Lyons. 

Meanwhile, the Count of Dammartin was di- 
rected by the king to take military possession of 
Dauphine and to put the dauphin under arrest. 
As he was en route to fulfil these orders, the count 
heard that a day had been set b}^ Louis for a great 
hunt. That an excellent opportunity might be 
afforded for securing his quarry in the course of 
the chase, was the immediate thought of the king's 
lieutenant. So there might have been had not 
the wily hunter received timely warning of the 
project for making him the game. 

At the hour appointed for the meet, the dau- 
phin's suite rode to the rendezvous, but the prince 
turned his horse in the opposite direction and 
galloped away at full speed, attended by a few 
trusty followers. He hardly stopped even to take 
breath until he was out of his father's domain, and 
made no pause until he reached vSt. Claude, a small 
town in the Franche-Comte, where he threw him- 
self on the kindness of the Prince of Orange. 

How gossip about this strange departure of 
the French heir fluttered here and there! Du 
Clercqi tells the stor}^ with some variation from 
the above outline, laying more stress on the pop- 
ular appeal to the king for relief from Louis's trans- 
gressions as governor of Dauphine, and enlarging 
on the accusation that Louis was responsible for 
the death of La belle Agnes, " the first lady of the 
land possessing the king's perfect love." He adds 

» 11. ,223. 



Burgundy and France T^ 

that the dauphin was further displeased because 
the niece of this same Agnes, the Demoiselle de 
Villeclerc, was kept at court after her aunt's death. 
Wherever the king went he was followed by this 
lady, accompanied by a train of beauties. It was 
this conduct of his father that had forced the son 
to absent himself from court life for twelv^e years 
and more, during which time he received no allow- 
ance as was his rightful due, and thus he had been 
obliged to make his own requisitions from his 
seigniory. 

There were other reports that the king was 
quite ready to accord his son his full state; others, 
again, that Charles drove Louis into exile from 
mere dislike and intended to make his second son 
his heir and successor. At this point Du Clercq's 
manuscript is broken off abruptly and the remain- 
der of his conjectures are lost to posterity. Where 
the text begins again, the author dismisses all 
this contradictory hearsay and says in his own 
character as veracious chronicler, ** I concern my- 
self only with what actually occurred. The dau- 
phin gave a feast in the forest and then departed 
secretly to avoid being arrested by Dammartin." 

This flight was the not unnatural termination 
of a long series of misunderstandings between a 
father whose private conduct was not above criti- 
cism, and a son, clever, unscrupulous, destitute 
of respect for any person or thing except for the 
superstitious side of his religion. 

Charles VII. was a curious instance of a man 
whose mental development occurred during the 



78 Charles the Bold 

later years of his life. When his son was under 
his personal influence his character was not one 
to instil filial deference, and Louis certainly cher- 
ished neither respect nor affection for the father 
whose inert years he remembered vividly. 

Whether, indeed, the dauphin had any part in 
Agnes Sorel's death which gave him especial rea- 
son to dread the king's anger, is uncertain, but 
of his action there is no doubt. To St. Claude he 
travelled as rapidly as his steed could go, and from 
that spot on Burgundian soil he despatched the 
following exemplary letter to his father : 

** My very redoubtable Lord : 

**To your good grace I recommend myself as 
humbly as I can. Be pleased to know, my very re- 
doubtable lord, that because, as you know, my uncle 
of Burgundy intends shortly to go on a crusade against 
the Turk in defence of the Catholic Faith and because 
my desire is to go, your good pleasure permitting, 
considering that our Holy Father the Pope bade me 
so to do, and that I am standard bearer of the Church, 
and that I took the oath by your command, I am now 
on my way to join my uncle to learn his plans so that 
I can take steps for the defence of the Catholic Faith. 

"Also, I wish to implore him to find means of rein- 
stating me in your good grace, which is something that 
I desire most in the world. My very redoubtable 
lord, I pray God to give you good life and long. 

"Written at St. Claude the last day of August. 

"Your very humble and obedient son, 

"LOYS."^ 

1 Lettres de Louis XI., i., 77. 

According to the editor, Vaesen, the original of this letter 
shows that September 2nd was written first and erased. 



Burgundy and France 79 

This letter hardly succeeded in carrying convic- 
tion to the king. He characterised the projected 
expedition to Turkey as a farce, a pretence, and 
a frivolous excuse.^ Probably, too, he did not 
contradict his courtiers when they declared that 
the project had been in the wind a long time, and 
that the Duke of Burgundy would be prouder than 
ever to have the heir to France dependent on his 
protection. 

The epistle despatched, Louis continued his 
journey under the escort of the Seigneur de Blau- 
mont. Marshal of Burgundy, at the head of thirty 
horse. Their pace was rapid to elude the pursuit 
of Tristan rHermite. The prince needed no ^purs 
to make him flee. Even if his father did not in- 
tend to have him drowned in a sack his immedi- 
ate liberty was certainly in jeopardy. '' In truth 
this thing was a marvellous business. The Prince 
of Orange and the Marshal of Burgundy were the 
two men whom the dauphin hated more than any 
one else, but necessity, which knows no law, over- 
came the distaste of the dauphin." 2 

Louvain was the next place where Louis felt 
safe enough to rest. Here he wrote to the Duke 
of Burgundy to announce his arrival within his 
territory. The letter found Philip in camp before 
Deventer. It is evident that he was entirely 
taken by surprise, and was prepared to be very 
cautious in his correspondence with the French 
king. He assured him that he was willing to re- 

1 Chastellain, iii., 185. 

2 Du Clercq, ii., 228. 



8o Charles the Bold 

ceive and honotir Louis as his suzerain's heir, but 
he implored that suzerain not to blame him, the 
duke, for that heir's flight to his protection. 

His envoy, Perrenet, was charged with many 
reassuring messages in addition to the epistle. 
Before he reached the French court, his news was 
no novelty. Rumour had preceded him. The 
messenger was very eloquent in his assurances to 
the king that Philip was wholly innocent in the 
affair and a good peer and true. Perrenet 

"stayed at the French court until Epiphany and I do 
not know what they discussed, but during that time 
news came that the king had garrisoned Com-pi^gne, 
Lyons, and places where his lands touched the duke's 
territories. ' When the envoy returned to the duke, 
he published a manifesto ordering all who could 
bear arms to be in readiness."^ 

PhiHp sent messages of welcome to Louis with 
apologies for his own inevitable absence, and the 
visitor was profuse in his return assurances to his 
uncle that he understood the delay and would not 
disturb his business for the world. " I have leisure 
enough to wait and it does not weary me. I am 
safe in a pleasant land and in a fine town which I 
have long wished to see." He showed his cour- 
tesy when the Count d'Etampes, PhiHp's nephew- 
in-law, presented his suite, by pronouncing each 
individual name and assuring its bearer that he 
had heard about him. ^ 

1 Chastellain iii., 197. 

2 See Sej our de Louis XI. aux Pays-Bas; Reiffenberg: Nou- 
veaux mem. de I'Acad. Royale, 1829. 



Burgundy and France 8i 

The count was commissioned to conduct the 
dauphin to Brussels and we have the story of an 
eye-witness of his reception by the ladies of the 
ducal family : 

"I saw the King of France, father of the present 
King Charles, chased away by his father Charles for 
some difference of which they say that the fair Agnes 
was the cause, and on account of which he took refuge 
with Duke Philip, for he had no means of subsistence.* 

"The said King Louis, being dauphin, came to 
Brussels accompanied by about ten cavaliers and by 
the Marshal of Burgundy. At this time Duke Philip 
was at Utrecht in war and there was no one to receive 
the visitor but Madame the Duchess Isabella and 
Madame de Charolais, her daughter-in-law, pregnant 
with Madame Mary of Burgundy, since then Duchess 
of Austria. 

"Monsieur the dauphin arrived at Brussels, where 
were the ladies, at eight o'clock in the evening, about 
St. Martin's Day.^ When the ladies heard that he 
was in the city they hastened down to the courtyard 
to await him. As soon as he saw them he dismounted 
and saluted Madame the Duchess and Mme. de Charo- 
lais and Mme. de Ravestein. All kneeled and then 
he kissed the other ladies of the court." 

Alienor goes on to describe how a whole quarter 
of an hour was consumed by a friendly altercation 
between Isabella and her guest as to the exact 

» Alienor de Poictiers, Les Honneurs de la Cour, {[., 208, 
It was early in October. 

2 This date, November nth, does not agree with the others. 



82 Charles the Bold 

way in which they should enter the door, the 
dauphin resolute in his refusal to take precedence 
and Isabella equally resolute not even to walk by 
the side of the future king. " Monsieur, it seems 
to me you desire to make me a laughing stock, for 
you wish me to do what befits me not." To this 
the dauphin replied that it was incumbent upon 
him to pay honour for there was none in the realm 
of France so poor as he, and that he would not 
have known whither to flee if not to his uncle 
Philip and to her. 

Louis prevailed in his argument, and hostess 
and guest finally proceeded hand in hand to the 
chamber prepared for the latter and Isabella then 
took leave on bended knee. 

When the duke returned to Brussels this conten- 
tion as to the proper etiquette was renewed, Isa- 
bella tried to retain the dauphin in his own apart- 
ment so that the duke should greet him there 
as befitted their relative rank. She was greatly 
chagrined, therefore, when Louis rushed down 
to the courtyard on hearing the signs of arrival. 
This punctilious hostess actually held the prince 
back by his coat to prevent his advancing towards 
the duke. 

Throughout the visit the minor points of eti- 
quette were observed with the utmost care. Both 
duchess and countess refrained from employing 
their train-bearers when they entered the dau- 
phin's presence. When he insisted that his hostess 
should walk by his side, she managed her own 
train if possible. If she accepted any aid from 



Burgundy and France 83 

her gentlemen she was very careful to keepher hand 
upon the dress, so that technically she was still her 
own train-bearer. Then, too, when the duchess 
ate in the dauphin's presence, there was no cover 
to her dish and nothing was tasted in her behalf. 

The Duke of Burgundy had to supply Louis 
with every requisite, but he, too, never forgot for 
a moment that this dependent visitor was future 
monarch of France. Without doors as within, 
every minor detail of etiquette was observed. The 
duke never so far forgot himself in the ardour of 
the chase as to permit his horse's head to advance 
beyond the tail of the prince's steed. 

In February, 1457, on St. Valentine's Eve, Mary 
of Burgundy was bom. Our observant court 
lady describes in detail the ceremonial observed 
in the chamber of the Countess of Charolais and 
at the baptism. Brussels rang with jo\^ul bells 
and blazed with torches, four hundred supplied 
by the city and two hundred by the young father. 
Each torch weighed four or five pounds. 

The Count of Charolais was his own messenger 
to announce the birth of his daughter to *the 
dauphin and to ask him to stand god-father. Joy- 
ful was Louis to accept the invitation and to be- 
stow his mother's name on the baby-girl. Ste. 
Gudule was so far from the palace that the Church 
of the Caudenberg was selected for the ceremony 
and richly adorned with Holland linen, velvet, 
and cloth of gold. The duchess carried her grand- 
child to the font, — a font draped with cramoisy 
velvet. 



84 Charles the Bold 

"Monsieur the dauphin stood on the right and I 
heard it said that there was no one on the left because 
there was none his equal. On that day, the duchess 
wore a round skirt a la Portuguaise, edged with fur. 
There was no train of cloth nor of silk, so I cannot 
state who carried it," 

sagely remarks Alienor with incontrovertible logic. 

Later events made later chroniclers less enthu- 
siastic about the honour paid to Mademoiselle^ 
Mary by the dauphin. In a manuscript of La 
Marche's Memoir es at The Hague, the words " Lord ! 
what a god-father!" appear in the margin of the 
page describing the baptism. ^ But in these early 
days of his five years' sojourn, Louis seems to have 
been a pleasant person and to have posed as the 
ruined poor relation, entirely free from pride at 
his high birth and delighted to repay hospitality 
by his general complaisance. 

Charles VII. received all the reports with some- 
what cynical amusement. He had no great trust 
in his son. ''Louis is fickle and changeable and 
I do not doubt that he will return here before long. 
I am not at all pleased with those who influence 
him," are his words as quoted by d'Escouchy.^ 

Undoubtedly, though, the king was much sur- 
prised at his son's action. He had rather ex- 
pected him to take refuge somewhere but he never 
thought that the Duke of Burgundy would be his 

1 " At that time they did not say Madame, for Monsieur was 
not the son of a sovereign." — La Marche, ii., 410, note. 
2 La Marche, ii., 410: "Dieu quel parrain! " 
3 II., 343- 




LOUIS XI 
FROM THE ENGRAVING BY A. BOILLY, AFTER THE DRAWING BY J. BOILLY 



Burgundy and France 85 

protector — a strange choice to his mind. '*My 
cousin of Burgundy nourishes a fox who will eat 
his chickens" is reported as another comment of 
this impartial father. ^ Like many a phrase, pos- 
sibly the fruit of later harvests, this is an excellent 
epitome of the situation. 

1 Chastellain , iii . , 185; La visse i v" . , 2 9 9 . 



CHAPTER V 

THE COUNT AND THE DAUPHIN 
I456-1461 

THE picture of the Burgundian court rejoicing^ 
in happy unison over the advent of an heir- 
ess to carry on the Burgundian traditions, with 
the dauphin participating in the family joy, shows 
the tranquil side of the first months of the long 
visit. Before Mary's birth, however, an incident 
had occurred, betraying the fact that the dauphin 
and Charles VI I. were not the only father and 
son between whom relations were strained, and 
that a moment had arrived when the attitude of 
the Count of Charolais to the duke was no longer 
characterised by unquestioning filial obedience. 

Charles was on his way to Nuremberg ^ to fulfil 
a mission with certain German princes when the 
dauphin alighted in Brabant, like " a bird of ill 
omen," as he designated himself on one occasion. 
The count did not return to Brussels until January 
12, 1457. Thus he took no part in the hearty 
welcome accorded to the visitor. It is more than 
possible that the heir of Burgundy was not wholly 
pleased with the state of affairs placidly existing 
by mid- winter. 

1 He had departed with Adolph de la Marck on November 
19th. — Archives du Nord. See Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 
113. No mention of this seems to appear elsewhere, 

86 



The Count and the Dauphin 87 

Instead of resuming the first position which he 
had enjoyed during his brief regency, or the hon- 
oured second that had been his after PhiHp came 
back, Charles was now relegated to a third place. 
Further, without having been consulted as to the 
policy, he found that he was forced into following 
his father's lead in treating a penniless refugee like 
an invited guest, whose visit was an honour and 
a joy. It is more than probable that Charles was 
already feeling somewhat hurt at the duke's 
warmth towards Louis when a serious breach 
occurred between father and son about another 
^ matter. 

It chanced that a chamberlain's post fell vacant 
in his own household, and the count assumed that 
the appointment of a successor was something that 
lay wholly within his jurisdiction. When the 
duke interfered in a peremptory fashion and in- 
sisted that the appointment should be made at 
his instance, the son refused to accept his author- 
ity, especially as his father's nominee was Philip 
de Croy, one of a family already over-dominant 
in the Burgundian court. At least, that was 
Charles's opinion. Therefore, when he obeyed 
his father's commands to bring his ordonnance, or 
household list, to the duke's oratory, he unhesi- 
tatingly carried the document which contained 
the name of Antoine Raulin, Sire d' Emeries, in 
place of Philip de Croy. 

The duke was very angry at this apparent con- 
tempt for his expressed wishes. Indignantly he 
threw the lists into the fire with the words, " Now 



88 Charles the Bold 

look to your ordonnances for you will need new 
ones." ^ 

There was evidently a succession of violent 
scenes in which the duchess tried to stand between 
her husband and son. But Philip was beside him- 
self with wrath and refused to listen to a word 
from her or from the dauphin, who also endeav- 
oured to mediate. 2 

Finally, the irate duke lost all control of himself, 
ordered a horse, and rode out alone into the forest 
of Soignies. When he became calmer it was dark 
and he found himself far from the beaten tracks, 
in the midst of underbrush through which he 
could not ride. He dismounted and wandered 
on foot for hours in the January night until 
smoke guided him to a charcoal burner, who con- 
ducted him to the more friendly shelter of a for- 
ester's hut. In the morning he made his way to 
Genappe. 

Meantime, in the palace, consternation reigned. 
Search parties seeking their sovereign were out all 
night. No one, however, was in such a state of 
dismay as the dauphin, who declared that he 
would be counted at fault when family dissensions 
followed so soon on his arrival. Delighted he was, 
therefore, to act as mediator between father and 

1 Chastellain (iii., 233) says that he heard the story from 
the clerk of the chapel, sole witness of this family quarrel. 
The duke was so angry that it was hideous to see him. 

2 La Marche, ii., 418; Du Clercq, ii., 237; Chastellain, iii., 
230, etc. In the last the narrative is more elaborate. The 
author dwells much on the danger to the young countess in 
her delicate gtate of health, 



The Count and the Dauphin 89 

son after the duke was in a sufficiently pacified 
state to listen to reason. Charles betook himself 
to Dendermonde for a time until the duke was 
ready to see him. ^ His young wife made the 
most of her expectations to soften her father-in- 
law's resentment, and between her entreaties and 
those of the guest, proud to show his tact and his 
gratitude, the quarrel was at last smoothed over. 

There was one marked difference between this 
family dispute and the breach between the French 
king and the dauphin. In the latter case no feel- 
ing was involved. In the former, the son was 
really deeply wounded by what he deemed lack 
of parental affection for his interests. At the 
same time he was shocked by the bitter words and 
was, for the moment, so filled with contrition that 
he was eager to make any concession agreeable to 
the duke. He dismissed two of his servants, ^ 
suspected by his father of fomenting trouble be- 
tween them, and he showed himself in general 
very willing to placate paternal displeasure. 

Reconciliation between duke and duchess was 

1 " Thus there was much coming and going: and it was or- 
dered by Monseigneur le Dauphin that Monseigneur de Rave- 
stein and the king-at-arms of the Toison d'Or should go to 
Dendermonde to learn the wishes of the Count of Charolais 
and his intentions, of which I am entitled to speak for I was 
despatched several times to Brussels in behalf of my said 
Seigneur of Charolais, to ask the advice of the Chancellor 
Raulin as to the best method of conducting the present 
affair" — (La Marche, ii., 419.) 

2 La Marche, ii., 420. One of these, Guillaume Biche, 
went to France and La Marche says that he himself often went 
tp him to obtain valuable information, 



90 Charles the Bold 

more difficult. Isabella resented Philip's re- 
proaches for her sympathy with Charles. She 
said she had stepped between the two men be- 
cause she had feared lest the duke might injure 
his son in his wrath. ^ This was in answer to the 
Marshal of Burgundy when he was telling her of 
Philip's displeasure. She concluded her dignified 
defence with an expression of her utter loneliness. 
Stranger in a strange land she had no one belong- 
ing to her but her son. 

She was certainly present at the baptism of her 
grandchild, but shortly afterwards she retired to 
a convent of the Grey Sisters, founded by herself, 
and rarely returned to the world or took part in 
its ceremonies during the remainder of her life. 

The quarrel, too, left its scar upon Charles. It 
is not probable that he had much personal liking 
for the guest upon whom his father heaped cour- 
tesies and solicitous care. On one occasion, when 
the two young men were hunting they were sepa- 
rated by chance. When Charles returned alone to 
the palace, the duke was full of reproaches at his 
son's careless desertion of the guest in his charge. 
Again the court was organised into search parties 
and there was no rest until the dauphin was dis- 
covered some leagues from Brussels. 2 Here, also, 
it is an easy presumption that the Count of Charo- 
lais was a trifle sulky over his father's preoccupa- 
tion in regard to the prince. 

The transient character of the dauphin's so- 
journ in his cousin's domains soon changed. In 

1 La Marche, ii., 418. 2 Du Clercq, ii., 239. 



The Count and the Dauphin 91 

the summer of 1457, when news came that Dau- 
phine had submitted to Charles VII., when the 
successive embassies despatched by PhiHp to the 
king had all proved fruitless in their conciliatory 
efforts, Philip proceeded to make more permanent 
arrangements for the fugitive's comfort. 

"Now, Monseigneur, since the king has been pleased 
to deprive you of Dauphine . . . you are to-day 
lord and prince without land. But, nevertheless, 
you shall not be without a country, for all that I have 
is yours and I place it within your hand without re- 
serving aught except my life and that of my wife. 
Pray take heart. If God does not abandon me I will 
never abandon you." ^ 

The duke made good his words by giving his 
guest the estate of Genappe, of which Louis took 
possession at the end of July. Then as a further 
step to make things pleasant for the exile, Philip 
sent for Charlotte of Savoy w^ho had remained 
under her father's care ever since the formal mar- 
riage in 145 1. She was now eighteen. 

It was an agreeable spot, this estate at Genappe. 
Louis's favourite amusement of the chase was easy 
of access. "The court is at present at Louvain," 
wrote a courtier 2 on July ist, "and Monseigneur 
the Dauphin likes it very much, for there is good 
hunting and falconry and a great number of rab- 
bits within and without the city." With killing 

» Chastellain, iii., 308. 

2 Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 123. Thierry de V^bry to 
the Count de Vaudemart. 



9^ Charles the Bold 

of every kind at his service, what greater solace 
could a homeless prince expect? 

From Louvain to Genappe is no great distance, 
and the sum of 1200 livres, furnished by Philip 
for the dauphin's journey to his new abode, seemed 
a large provision. The pension then settled on 
him was 36,000 livres, and when the dauphiness 
arrived 1000 livres a month were provided for 
her private purse. ^ 

Pleasant was existence in this chateau. There 
was no dearth of company to throng around the 
prince in exile, and the dauphin allowed no preju- 
dice of mere likes and dislikes, no consideration of 
duty towards his host to hamper him in making 
useful friends. A word here and a word there, 
aptly thrown in at a time when Philip's anger had 
exasperated, when Charles had failed to conciliate, 
were very potent in intimating to many a Burgun- 
dian servant that there might come a time when 
a new king across the border might better ap- 
preciate their real value than their present or 
future sovereign. 

Hunting was a favourite amusement, but the 
dauphin did not confine his invitations to sports- 
men. The easy accessibility of the little court 
attracted men of science and of letters as well as 
others capable of making the time pass agreeably. 
When there was nothing else on foot, it is said that 
the company amused themselves by telling stories, 
each in turn, and out of their tales grew the collec- 

1 Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 123. 



The Count and the Dauphin 93 

tion of the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, ^ named in 
imitation of Boccaccio's Cento Novelle. 

The first printed edition of this collection was 
issued in Paris, in i486, by Antoine Verard, who 
thus admonishes the gentle reader: ''Note that 
whenever Monseigneur is referred to, Monseigneur 
the Dauphin must be understood, who has since 
succeeded to the crown and is King Louis. Then 
he was in the land of the Duke of Burgundy." 
Another editor asserts that Monseigneur is evi- 
dently the Duke of Burgundy and not Louis, and 
later authorities decide that Anthony de la Sale 
wrote the whole collection in imitation of Boccaccio, 
and that the names of the narrators were as imagin- 
ative or rather as editorial as the rest of the volume. 

If this be true, it maybe inferred that the author 
would have given an appearance of verisimilitude 
to his fiction by mentioning the actual habitues 
of the dauphin's court. The name of the Count 
of Charolais does not appear at all. The duke 
tells three or more stories according to the inter- 
pretation given to Monseigneur. With three 
exceptions the tales are very coarse, nor does 
their wit atone for their licentiousness. Possibly 
Charles held himself aloof from the kind of talk 
they suggest. All reports make him rigid in stand- 
ards of morality not observed by his fellows. That 
he had little to do with the court is certain, what- 
ever his reason. 

> Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, ed. A. J. V. Le Roux. The 
stories are, as a rule, only retold tales. 



94 Charles the Bold 

Louis did not confine himself to the estate 
assigned him. There were various court visits 
to the Flemish towns where he was afforded ex- 
cellent opportunities for seeing the wealth of 
the burghers and their status in the world of 
commerce. 

Ghent was very anxious to have the duke bring 
his guest within her gates and give her an oppor- 
tunity of displaying her regret for the past un- 
pleasantness. ''In his goodness," Philip at last 
yielded to their entreaties to make them a visit 
himself, but he decided not to take the prince or 
the count with him.^ He was either afraid for 
their saf et}^ or else he did not care to bring a future 
French king into relation with citizens who might 
find it convenient to remember his suzerainty in 
order to ignore the wishes of their sovereign duke. 2 

Eastertide, 1458, was finally appointed for this 
state visit of reconciliation. The duke took the 
precaution to send scouts ahead to ascertain that 
the late rebels were sincere in their contrition, 
and that there was no danger of anarchist agita- 
tions. The report was brought back that all was 
calm and that joyful preparations were making 
to show appreciation of Phihp's kindness. 

» "The spectacle was not witnessed by Count Charolais nor 
by Louis the Dauphin, nor by the Lord of Croy, whom for 
certain reasons he was unwilling to take with him." (Meyer, 
p. 322.) 

2 Kervyn, Hist, de Flandre, v., 23. At this time Philip was 
ignoring a peremptory summons to appear before the Parlia- 
ment of Paris. 



The Count and the Dauphin 95 

On April 2 2d, the duke slept at TEcluse, and 
on the 23d he was gaily escorted into the city by 
knights and gentlemen summoned from Holland, 
Hainaut, and Flanders, "but neither clerks nor 
priests were in his train." As a further assurance 
to him of their peaceful intention, the citizens 
actually lifted the city gates off their hinges so as 
to leave open exits. 

Once within the walls, the duke found the whole 
community, who had shown intelligent and sturdy 
determination not to endure arbitrary tyranny, 
ready to weave themselves into a frenzy of biblical 
and classical parable whose one purpose was to 
prove how evil had been their ways. A pompous 
procession sang Te Deum as the duke rode in, and 
the first ''mystery" that met his eyes within the 
gates was a wonderful representation of Abraham 
sacrificing Isaac, while the legend "All that the 
Lord commanded we will do," was meant not to 
refer to the Hebrew's fidelity to Jehovah, but to 
the Ghenters' perfect submission to Philip. A 
young girl stood ready to greet him with the words 
of Solomon, " I have found one my soul loves." ^ 

Farther on there were various emblems all de- 
signed to compare Philip now to Cssar, now to 
Pompey, now to Nebuchadnezzar. The most 
humiliating spectacle was that of a man dressed 
in a lion's skin, thus personifying the Lion of Flan- 

* Meyer, p. 321. 
All the legends were in Latin. Inveni quern diligit anima 



g6 Charles the Bold 

ders, leading Philip's horse by the bridle. '' Vive 
Bourgogne is now our cry," was symbolised in 
every vehicle which the rhetoricians could invent. 

Not altogether explicable is this extreme self- 
abnegation. Civic prosperity must have returned 
in four years or there would have been no money 
for the outlay. Apparently, Phihp's countenance 
was worth more to them than their pride. 

The birth and death of two children at Genappe 
gave the duke new reasons for showering ostenta- 
tious favours on his guest, and furnished the 
dauphin with suitable occasion for addressing his 
own father, who answered him in kind. 

The following is one of the fair-phrased epistles ^ : 
The King to the Dauphin, 1459. 

*' Very dear and much loved son: 

"We have received the letters that you wrote us 
making mention that on July 27 our dear and much 
loved daughter, the dauphiness, was delivered of a 
fine boy, for which we have been and are very joyous, 
and it seems to me that the more God our Creator 
grants you favour, by so much the more you ought to 
praise and thank Him and refrain from angering Him, 
and in all things fulfil His commandments. 

"Given at Compiegne, Aug. 7th. 

"Charles." 

During these five years, Charles was more or less 
aloof from the courts of his father and of their 
guest. He spent part of the time in Holland and 
part at Le Quesnoy with his young wife. The 

1 Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 267. 



The Count and the Dauphin 97 

Count of St. Pol was one of his intimate friends, 
and a friend who managed to make many insinua- 
tions about the duke's treatment of his son and 
infatuation about the Croys whom Charles hated 
with increasing fervency. 

There is a story that Charles went from Le 
Quesnoy to his father's court to demand a formal 
audience from the duke in order to lodge his pro- 
test against the Croys. Evidently relations were 
strained when such a degree of ceremony was 
needed between father and son. 

Gerard Ourre was commissioned to set forth the 
count's grievances, and he was in the midst of- his 
carefully prepared statement when the duke inter- 
rupted him with the curt observation: "Have a 
care to say nothing but the truth and understand, 
it will be necessary to prove every assertion." The 
orator was discomfited, stammered on for a few 
moments, and then excused himself from complet- 
ing his harangue. There were only a few nobles 
present and all were surprised at this embarrass- 
ment, as Gerard passed for a clever man. Then, 
seeing that his deputy was too much frightened 
to proceed, Charles took up the thread of his dis- 
course. In a firm voice he continued the list of 
accusations against the Croys, only to be cut short 
in his turn. Peremptory was the duke in his com- 
mand to his son to be silent and never again to 
refer to the subject. Then, turning to Croy, Philip 
added '* see to it that my son is satisfied with you," 
and withdrew from the audience chamber. 



98 Charles the Bold 

Croy addressed Charles and endeavoured to be 
conciliatory. "When you have repaired the ill 
you have wrought I will remember the good you 
have done," was the count's only reply. He took 
leave of his father with an outward show of love 
and respect and returned to his wife at Le Ques- 
noy, escorted, indeed, by Croy out of the gates of 
Brussels, but with no better understanding 
between them. 

St. Pol found good ground to work on. He 
inflamed the count's discontent and his distrust 
of the duke's favourite until Charles despatched 
him to Bourges on a confidential mission to ascer- 
tain what Charles VII. would do for the heir of 
Burgundy should he decide to take refuge in the 
French court. 1 

At the first interview " I was not present," states 
the unknown reporter, but on succeeding occa- 
sions this man heard for himself that the king was 
ready to show hospitality to the Count of Charolais 
who *'has no ill intentions against his father. All 
he wants to do is to separate him from the people 
who govern him badly." 

The conferences were held in the lodgings of 
Odet d'Aydie. Among those present was Dam- 
martin and the matter was discussed in its various 
aspects. Jehan Bureau and the anonymous wit- 
ness were charged with drawing up a report of the 
discussion. When this was presented to the king 
it did not seem to him good. He doubted the good 

1 Report of an eye-witness. (Duclos, v., i95-) 



The Count and the Dauphin 99 

faith of the count's message. He had been assured 
that it was all a fiction especially designed by the 
Sieur de Burgundy. 

Certain general promises were made in spite of 
this royal distrust, quite natural under the circum- 
stances. If he decided to espouse the cause of 
Henry VI., the Count of Charolais should be given 
a command. It was evident that the count was 
by no means ready to go to all lengths, for St. Pol 
states in one of his conferences with the "late 
king" that Charles of Burgundy had assured him 
that for two realms such as his he would not do a 
deed of villainy. 

Nothing came of this talk. It would have been 
a singular state of affairs had the heirs of France 
and Burgundy thus changed places in their fathers' 
courts. Spying and counterspying there were 
between the courts to a great extent and rumours 
in number. A certain Italian writes to the Duke 
of Milan as follows, on March 23, 1461, after he had 
been at Genappe and at Brussels : 1 

"M. de Croy has given me clearly to understand 
that the reconciliation of the dauphin with the King 
of France would not be with the approval of the 
Duke of Burgundy. Nevertheless the prince laments 
that since he received the dauphin into his states, and 
treated him as his future sovereign, he has incurred 
the implacable hatred of the king added to his an- 
cient grievances. On the other hand, the affairs of 
England, on whose issue depends war or peace for the 

1 Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 326. 

LOFC 



loo Charles the Bold 

duke, being still in suspense, it did not seem to him 
honest to make advances to the king at this moment. 

'' M. de Croy thinks that the dauphin does not seem 
to have carried into this affair the circumspection 
and reflection befitting a prince of his quality. He 
has maintained towards the duke the most complete 
silence on the affair of Genoa, and the proposition 
concerning Italy. Croy does not think there is any- 
thing in it, but if the thing were so it ought not to be 
secret. He does not believe that peace will be made 
between the dauphin and his father, and mentioned 
that his brother was on the embassy from duke to 
king, in order, I suppose, to probe the matter to the 
bottom. 

"The dauphin it seems has been out of humour 
with the Duke of Burgundy on account of the luke- 
warmness shown for his interests by the ambassador 
sent by this prince to the Duke of Savoy. 

"The silent agreement which reigns between the 
dauphin and Monsg. de Charolais is one of the causes 
which has chilled this great love between the dauphin 
and the duke which existed at the beginning. 

"Moreover, the dauphin having spent largely, 
especially in almsgiving without considering his 
purse finds himself very hard pressed. He has only 
two thousand ducats a month from the Duke of Bur- 
gundy and that seems to force him into peace with 
the king. The duke expects nothing during the 
king's lifetime. 

"Everything makes me want to wait here for the 
arrival of news from England. It is expected daily, 
good or bad the last play must be made. The duke 
fears a descent on Calais, and for this reason is going 
to a town called St. Omer. Under pretext of cele- 



la>yu^^^?p M-^-^itri*: 



C^ttj e^ 



/■i77 











PHILIP THE GOOD AND CHARLES THE BOLD 
FROM A CONTEMPORARY SKETCH IN MS. 



The Count and the Dauphin loi 

brating there the fete of the Toison d'Or he has ordered 
all his escort to be armed." 

For a long time before his final illness the death 
of Charles VII. was anticipated. When it came 
it was a dolorous end.i At Genappe, the (^auphin 
had been making his preparations for the wished- 
for event in many ways, all in exact opposition to 
his father's policy. In Italy and in Spain he sided 
with the opponents of Charles VII. In England, 
his sympathies were all for the House of York 
because his father was favourable to Henry of 
Lancaster and Margaret of Anjou. He learned 
with satisfaction of the success of Edward IV., 
and was more than willing to see him invade 
France. With certain princes of Germany he 
entertained relations shrouded in mystery, while 
his father's own agents disclosed secrets to him 
from time to time. 

In his exile he kept reminding ofBcial bodies at 
Paris that he was heir to the throne. As dauphin 
he claimed the right to give orders to the parle- 
ment at Grenoble. There is no actual proof that 
he had a hand in the conspiracies which troubled 
the last year of his father's reign, but it is certain 
that he managed to win to himself a party within 
the royal circle. 

Certain councillors, fearful of their own fate, 
did not hesitate to suggest that Louis should be 
disinherited and his brother Charles put in his 
stead, but this Charles VI I. would not accept. He 

»Lavisse, ivH., 321. 



I02 Charles the Bold 

kept hoping for Louis's submission. The latter, 
however, had no idea of this. He was sure that 
his father would not live to grow old. A trouble 
in his leg threatened to be cancerous. In July, 
there was a growth in his mouth. He died July 
22nd, convinced that his son had poisoned him. 

After July 17th constant bulletins from the 
king's bedside came to Louis. Genappe was too 
far and the anxious son moved to Avesnes in order 
to receive his messages more speedily. Our chroni- 
cler Chastellain 1 begins his story of Louis's acces- 
sion as follows : 

''Since I am not English but French, I who am 
neither Spanish nor Italian but French, I have written 
of two Frenchmen, the one king, the other duke. I 
have written of their works and their quarrels and 
of the favour and glories which God has given them 
in their time. 

"Kings die, reigns vanish but virtue alone and mer- 
itorious works serve man on his bier and gain him 
eternal glory. O you Frenchmen, see the cause 
and the end in my labours ! " 

The guest who had displayed so much humility 
and thankfulness when he arrived, who had depre- 
cated honours to his high birth and desired to offer 
all the courtesies, departed from the residence so 
generously given him for five years in a very 
cavalier manner. 

"Now the king left the duke's territories without 

»IV.,2I. 



The Count and the Dauphin 103 

having taken leave nor said adieu to the Countess of 
Charolais/ although he was in her neighbourhood, 
and he left behind him the queen, his wife. The said 
queen had neither hackneys nor vehicles with which 
to follow her husband. Therefore, the king ordered 
her to borrow the hackneys of the countess and char- 
iots, too. Heartily did the countess accede to this re- 
quest in spite of the fact that the thing seemed to 
her rather strange that a noble king, and one who 
had received so much honour and service from the 
House of Burgundy and had promised to recognise 
it when the hour came, should thus depart thence 
without saying a word. However, in spite of all, the 
countess would gladly have given the queen the hack- 
neys as a gift if they had been asked, and she sent 
them to her by one of her equerries named Corneille 
de la Barre, together with chariots and waggons. 
And thus the queen left the country just as her hus- 
band had done without saying a word either to the 
duke or the countess, and Corneille went with her 
on foot to bring back the hackneys when the queen 
had arrived at the place of her desire." 

Philip had difficulty in persuading his quondam 
guest to show outward respect to his father's 
memory. The duke clad himself and his suite in 
deep mourning before setting out to join Louis at 
Avesnes, whither representatives from the Univer- 
sity of Paris and from all parts of the realm had 
flocked to greet their new sovereign. 

It was a great concourse that marched from 
Avesnes as escort to the uncrowned king. Philip 

1 Chastellain, iv., 45. 



I04 Charles the Bold 

was magnificent in his appointments as he entered 
Rheims, and behind him came his son, 

"the Count of Charolais who, equally with his noble 
company of knights and squires, attracted hearts 
and eyes in admiration of his rich array wherein 
cloth of gold and jewelry, velvet and embroidery 
were lavishly displayed. And the count had ten 
pages and twenty-six archers, and this whole com- 
pany numbered three hundred horse."* 

This was a Thursday after dinner. Louis had 
waited at St. Thierry. On the actual day of the 
coronation, preliminaries absorbed so much time 
that the long cavalcade did not enter Rheims 
until seven o'clock. The king passed his night in 
a very pious and prayerful manner, taking no re- 
pose until 5 A.M. While his suite were occupied 
at their toilets he slipped off alone to church. 

Finally all was ready for the grand ceremony. 
Very magnificent were the duke's robes and ermine 
when, as chief among the peers, he escorted his late 
guest to be consecrated king, and very devout and 
simple was Louis. After the consecration, the 
king and his friends listened to an address from the 
Bishop of Tournay, in which he described in Latin 
the dauphin's sojourn in the Netherlands. 

The Duke of Burgundy was the hero of the occa- 
sion. He felt that all future power was in his 
hands and that Louis XL could never do enough 

» Chastellain was not present, but he says of Philip's suite 
(iv., 47): "From what I have been told and what I have 
seen in writing, it was a wonderful thing and its like had never 
been seen in this kingdom/' 



The Count and the Dauphin 105 

to repay him for his wonderful hospitaHty. And 
for a time Louis was quite ready to foster this 
belief. When they entered Paris, the peer so far 
outshone the sovereign that there was general 
astonishment.! Moreover, whatever the latter 
did have was a gift. The very plate used on the 
royal table was a ducal present. 2 

Louis took great pains to preserve an attitude 
of grateful humility. When he met the parlement 
of Paris, he asked the duke's advice about its refor- 
mation. It was to Philip that all the petitioners 
flocked. But Louis was conscious, too, that there 
would be a morrow in Burgundy, and he took care 
to be friendly with the count even while he was 
flattering the duke. For this purpose he found 
Guillaume de Biche a very useful go-between. ^ 
This was one of the retainers dismissed in 1457 
by Charles at his father's request. He had then 
passed into Louis's service. This man quickly 
insinuated himself into the king's graces, was ad- 
mitted to his chamber at all hours, and walked 
arm in arm with the returned exile through Paris. 

The Burgundian exile had learned the mysteries 
of the city well in his four years' residence. Louis 
found him an amusing companion and skilfully 
managed to flatter the count by his favour towards 
the man whom he had liked. 

» "And I, myself, assert this for I was there and saw all the 
nobles " (Chastellain, iv., 52). 

2 When return presents were distributed to the nobles 
Philip received a lion, Charles a pelican, 

3 Chastellain, iv., 115. 



io6 Charles the Bold 

For six weeks Philip remained in the capital 
and astonished the Parisians with the fetes he 
offered. Equally astonished were they with their 
new monarch. Louis was thirty-eight and not 
attractive in person. His eyes were piercing but 
his visage was made plain by a disproportionate 
nose. His legs were thin and misshapen, his gait 
uncertain. He dressed very simply, wearing an 
old pilgrim's hat, ornamented by a leaden saint. 
As he rode into Abbeville in company with Philip, 
the simple folk who had never seen the king were 
greatly amazed at his appearance and said quite 
loud, ''Benedicite! Is that a king of France, the 
greatest king in the world? All together his horse 
and dress are not worth twenty francs." i 

From the beginning of his reign, Louis XL 
never lived very long in any one place. He did 
not like the Louvre as a dwelling and had the palace 
of the Tournelles arranged for him. Touraine 
became by preference his residence, where he lived 
alternately at Amboise and in his new chateau 
at Plessis-les-Tours. But his sojourns were al- 
ways brief. He wanted to know everything, and 
he wandered everywhere to see France and 
to seek knowledge. His letters, his accounts, 
the chroniclers, the despatches of the Italian 
ambassador, show him on a perpetual journey. • 

He would set out at break of day with five or 
six intimates dressed in grey cloth like pilgrims ; 

1 Lavisse, iv"., 325 



The Count and the Dauphin 107 

archers and baggage followed at a distance. He 
would forbid any one to follow him, and often or- 
dered the gates of the city he had left to be closed, 
or a bridge to be broken behind him. Ambassa- 
dors ordered to see him without fail, sometimes 
had to cross France to obtain an interview, at least 
if their object was something in which he was not 
much interested. Then he would often grant 
them an audience in some miserable little peasant 
hut. 

In the cities where he stopped he would lodge 
with a burgomaster or some functionary. To 
avoid harangues and receptions he would often 
arrive unannounced through a little alley. If 
forced to accept an entree he stipulated that it 
should not be marked with magnificence. There 
never was a prince who so disliked ceremonies, 
balls, banquets, and tourneys. At his court young 
people were bored to death. He never ordered 
festivals except for some visitor; his pleasures 
were those of a simple private gentleman. He 
liked to dine out of his palace. Cagnola relates 
with surprise that he had seen the king dine after 
mass in a tavern on the market-place at Tours. 
He invited small nobles and bourgeois to dine 
with him. He was intimate, too, with bourgeois 
women, and indulged in gross pleasantries, speak- 
ing to and of women without reserve, sparing 
neither sister, mother, nor queen. 

Yet it was a sombre court. '' Farewell dames. 



io8 Charles the Bold 

citizens, demoiselles, feasts, dances, jousts, and 
tournaments; farewell fair and gracious maids, 
mundane pleasures, joys, and games," says Mar- 
tial d'Auvergne. Pompous magnificence may 
have reminded Louis unpleasantly of his visit to 
Burgundy. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE WAR OF PUBLIC WEAL 
I464-1465 

THE era of good feeling between Louis XL and 
his Burgundian kinsmen was of short dura- 
tion, and no wonder. The rich rewards confi- 
dently expected as fitting recompense for five 
years' kindness more than cousinly, towards a 
penniless refugee were not forthcoming. 

The king was lavish in fine words, and not chary 
in certain ostentatious recognition towards his late 
host, but the fairly munificent pension, together 
with the charge of Normandy settled upon the 
Count of Charolais, proved only a periodical re- 
minder of promises as regularly unfulfilled on each 
recurring quarter day, while the post of confidential 
adviser to the inexperienced monarch, which Philip 
had intended to occupy, remained empty. 

Louis put perfect trust in no one but turned now 
to one counsellor, now to another, and used such 
fragments of advice as pleased his whim and paid 
no further heed to the giver. 

Not long after Louis's coronation there occurred 
that change in Philip's bodily constitution that 
comes to all active men sooner or later. His health 
began to give way, his energies relaxed, and mat- 

109 



I lo Charles the Bold 

ters that had been of paramount importance 
throughout his career were allowed to slip into 
the background of his desires. In the famous 
treaty of 1435, no article was rated at greater 
importance than that which placed the towns 
on the Somme in Philip's hands, subject to 
a redemption of two hundred thousand gold 
crowns. Whether Charles VII. had actually 
pledged himself that the mortgage should hold at 
least during Philip's life does not seem assured, 
but that any sum would be insufficient to induce 
the duke to release them unless his intellect were 
somewhat deadened, is clear. 

In 1462, when he recovered from a sharp attack, 
possibly the result of his indulgence in the pleas- 
ures of the table during the prolonged festivities 
at Paris, he did not regain his previous vigour. 
This was the time, by the way, when opportunity 
was afforded his courtiers to prove that devotion 
to their seigneur outweighed personal vanity. 
When his head was shaved by order of the court 
physician, more than five hundred nobles sacri- 
ficed their own locks so that their becoming curls 
might not remind their chief of his own bald head. 
The sacrifice was not always voluntary, adds an 
informant. 1 Philip forced compliance with this 
new fashion upon all who seemed reluctant to be 
unnecessarily shorn of what beauty was theirs by 
nature's gift. This servility may have consoled 

1 La Marche, ii., 227. Peter von Hagenbach was the cham- 
berlain to enforce this. 



The War of Public Weal 1 1 1 

Philip for the deprivation of his hair. In his 
depressed condition any solace was acceptable. 

It was just when the duke was in this enfeebled 
state that Louis, through the mediation of the 
Croys, pushed forward his proposition to redeem 
the towns and Philip agreed, possibly relying 
upon the chance that it would be no easy matter 
for the French king to wring the required sum 
from his impoverished land. Philip's assent 
was, however, promptly clinched by a cash 
payment of half the amount ^ ; the remainder 
followed. 

Amiens, Abbeville, and the other towns, valua- 
ble bulwarks for the Netherland provinces, fine 
nurseries for the human material requisite for Bur- 
gundian armies, rich tax payers as they were, all 
tumbled into the outstretched hands of the duke's 
wily rival. 

The transaction was hurried through and com- 
pleted before a rumour of its progress came to the 
ear of the interested heir. Charles was in Holland 
sulking and indignant. He had expected good 
results from his tender devotion during his father's 
acute illness, a devotion shared by Isabella of 
Portugal who hastened to her husband's bedside 
from her convent seclusion when Philip was in 
need of her ministrations. But, in his convales- 
cence, Philip renewed his friendship for the Croys 

» The receipt for this half payment was signed October 8, 
1462. (Comines, Memoires, Lenglet du Fresnoy edition, ii., 
392-403.) 



ti2 Charles the Bold 

whom Charles continued to distrust with bitter- 
ness that varied in its intensity, but which never 
vanished from his consciousness. The young 
man felt misjudged, misused, and ever suspicious 
that personal danger to himself lurked in the air 
of his father's court. 

The various rumours of plots against his life 
may not all have been baseless. At last, one of 
own cousins, the Count of Nevers, was accused of 
having recourse to diabolic means of doing away 
with the duke's legitimate heir.^ Three little 
waxen images were found in his house, and it was 
alleged that he practised various magic arts withal 
in order to win the favour of the duke and of the 
French king, and still worse to cause Charles to 
waste away with a mysterious sickness. The 
accusations were sufficient to make Nevers 
resign all his offices in his kinsman's court and 
retire, post-haste, to France. Had he been wholly 
innocent he would have demanded trial at the 
hands of his peers of the Golden Fleece as be- 
hooved one of the order. But he withdrew 
undefended, and left his tattered reputation flut- 
tering raggedly in the breeze of gossip. 

Charles stayed in Holland aloof from the ducal 
court until a fresh incident drove him thither to 
give vent to his indignation. Only three days 
had Philip de Commines been page to Duke 
Philip, then resident at Lille, when an embassy 
headed by Morvilliers, Chancellor of France, was 

» Du Clercq, iii., 236; Comines-Lenglet, ii., 393. 



The War of Public Weal 113 

given audience in the presence of the Burgun- 
dian court, including the Count of Charolais. 
The future historian,^ then nineteen years old, 
was keenly alive to all that passed on that Novem- 
ber fifth, 1464. Morvilliers used very bitter 
terms in his assertion that Charles had illegally 
stopped a little French ship of war and arrested 
a certain bastard of Rubempre on the false charge 
that his errand in Holland, where the incident 
occurred, was to seize and carry off Charles him- 
self. Moreover, one knight of Burgundy, Sir 
Olivier de La Marche had caused this tale to be 
bruited everywhere, 

"especially at Bruges whither strangers of all nations 
resort. This had hurt Louis deeply, and he now 
demanded through his chancellor that Duke Philip 
should send this same Sir Olivier de La Marche 
prisoner to Paris, there to be punished as the case 
required. Whereupon, Duke Philip answered that 
the said Sir Olivier was steward of his house, born 
in the County of Burgundy and in no respect subject 
to the Crown of France." 

Philip added that if his servant had wrought ill 
to the king's honour he, the duke, would see to 
his punishment. As to the bastard of Rubempre, 
true it was that he had been apprehended in 
Holland, 2 but there was adequate ground for his 
arrest as his behaviour had been strange, at least 

1 Commines, Memoires i., ch. i. In the above passages Dan* 
nett's translation is followed for the racy English. 

2 Commines says at The Hague; Meyer makes it Gorcum. 



114 Charles the Bold 

so thought the Count of Charolais. PhiHp added 
that if his son were suspicious 

**he took it not of him for he was never so, but of his 
mother who had been the most jealous lady that ever 
lived. But notwithstanding" [quoth he] "that 
myself never were supicious, yet if I had been in my 
son's place at the same time that this bastard of 
Rubempre haunted those coasts I would surely have 
caused him to be apprehended as my son did." 

In conclusion, Philip promised to deliver up 
Rubempre to the king were his innocence satis- 
factorily proven. 

Morvilliers then resumed his discourse, enlarging 
upon the treacherous designs of Francis, Duke 
of Brittany, with whom Charles had lately sworn 
brotherhood at the very moment when he was the 
honoured guest of King Louis at Tours. During 
this discussion the Count of Charolais became very 
restive. Finally he could no longer endure 
Morvilliers' s indirect slurs, and 

"made offer eftsoon to answer, being marvellously 
out of patience to hear such reproachful speeches 
used of his friend and confederate. But Morvilliers 
cut him off, saying: 'My Lord of Charolais, I am 
not come of ambassage to you, but to my Lord your 
father.' The said earl besought his father divers 
times to give him leave to answer, who in the end said 
unto him: T have answered for thee as methinketh 
the father should answer for the son, notwithstanding 
if thou have so great desire to speak bethink thyself 
to-day and to-morrow speak and spare not.' " 



The War of Public Weal 115 

Then Morvilliers to his former speech added that 
he could not imagine what had moved the earl to 
enter into the league with the Duke of Brittany 
unless it were because of a pension the king had 
once given him together with the government 
of Normandy and afterwards taken from him. 

In regard to Rubempre, Commines adds to 
his story Charles's own statement given on the 
morrow : 

"Notwithstanding, I think nothing was ever 
proved against him, though I confess the pre- 
sumption to have been great. Five years after 
I myself saw him delivered out of prison." This 
from Commines. La Marche is less detailed in 
his record^ of the Rubempre incident: 

"The bastard was put in prison and the Count of 
Charolais sent me to Hesdin to the duke to inform 
him of the arrest and its cause. The good duke 
heard my report kindly like a wise prince. In truth 
he at once suspected that the craft of the King of 
France lurked at the bottom of the affair. Shortly 
afterwards the duke left Hesdin and returned to his 
own land , which did not please the King of France 
who despatched thither a great embassy with the 
Count d'Eu at the head. Demands were made that 
I should be delivered to him to be punished as he 
would, because he claimed that I had been the cause 
of the arrest of the bastard of Rubempr^ and also of 
the duke's departure from Hesdin without saying 
adieu to the King of France, but the good duke, 
moderate in all his actions, replied that I was his 

1 III.. 3. 



ii6 Charles the Bold 

subject and his servitor, and that if the king or 
any one else had a grievance against me he would 
investigate it. The matter was finally smoothed 
over [adds La Marche], and Louis evinced a readiness 
to conciliate his offended cousin." 

In spite of La Marche, the matter proved to 
be one not easily disposed of by soft phrases 
flung into the breach. Charles obeyed his father 
and prepared in advance his defence to the 
chancellor. When he had finished his own state- 
ment about Rubempre, he proceeded to the point 
of his friendship with the Duke of Brittany, 
declaring that it was right and proper and that 
if King Louis knew what was to the advantage 
of the French sovereign, he would be glad to 
see his nobles welded together as a bulwark to his 
throne. As to his pension, he had never received 
but one quarter, nine thousand francs. He had 
made no suit for the remainder nor for the govern- 
ment of Normandy. So long as he enjoyed the 
favour and good will of his father he had no need 
to crave favour of any man. 

" I think verily had it not been for the reverence 
he bore to his said father who was there present" 
continues the observant page, ''and to whom he 
addressed his speech that he would have used 
much bitterer terms. In the end, Duke Philip 
very wisely and humbly besought the king not 
lightly to conceive an evil opinion of him or his 
son but to continue his favour towards them. 
Then the banquet was brought in and the ambassa- 



The War of Public Weal 1 1 7 

dors took their leave. As they passed out Charles 
stood apart from his father and said to the arch- 
bishop of Narbonne, who brought up the rear of 
the little company: 

'' ' Recommend me very humbly to the good 
grace of the king. Tell him he has had me scolded 
here by the chancellor but that he shall repent 
it before a year is past.' " His message was 
duly delivered and to this incident Commines 
attributes momentous results. 

Exasperated at the nonchalant manner in which 
Louis's ambassadors treated him, indignant at 
the injury to his heritage by the redemption of 
the towns on the Somme, and further, already 
alienated from his royal cousin through the long 
series of petty occasions where the different 
natures of the two young men clashed, in this 
year 1464, Charles was certainly more than ready 
to enter into an open contest with the French 
monarch. It was not long before the opportunity 
came for him to do so with a certain eclat. 

In the early years of his own freedom, before 
he learned wisdom, Louis XL had planted many 
seeds of enmity which brought forth a plentiful 
crop, and the fruit was an open conspiracy among 
the nobles of the land. 

One of the causes of loosening feudal ties was the 
gradual growth of the body of standing troops 
instituted in 1439 by Charles VII. These, in the 
regular pay of the crown, gave the king a guaran- 
tee of support without the aid of his nobles. By 



ii8 Charles the Bold 

the date of Louis's accession, certain ducal houses 
besides that of Burgundy had grown very inde- 
pendent within their own boundaries: Orleans, 
Anjou, Bourbon, not to speak of Brittany. ^ Now 
the efforts to curtail the prerogatives of these 
petty sovereigns, begun by Charles VII., were 
steady and persistent in the new reign. They 
had no longer the power of coining money, of 
levying troops, or of imposing taxes, while the 
judicial authority of the crown had been extended 
little by little over France. Then their privileges 
were further attacked by Louis's restrictions of the 
chase. 

It was the accumulation of these invasions of 
local authority, added to a real disbelief in the 
king's ability, that led to a formation of a league 
among the nobles, designed to check the centralisa- 
tion policy of the monarch, a League of Public 
Weal to form a bulwark against the tyrannical 
encroachments of their liege lord. 

Not to follow the steps of the growth of this 
coalition, it is sufficient for the thread of this 
narrative to say that it comprised all the great 
French nobles, the princes of the blood as well as 
others. Men whom Louis had flattered as well as 
those whom he had slighted alike fell from his 
standards, distrustful of his ability to withstand 
organised opposition, and they threw in their lot 
with the protestors so as not to miss their share 
of the spoil. 

1 Lavisse ivii., 336. 



The War of Public Weal 119 

The Count of Charolais, as already mentioned, 
was in a mood when his ears were eagerly open 
to overtures from Louis's critics. The redemption 
of the towns on the Somme he was unable to 
prevent, but the affair left him very sore. Shortly 
after its completion, the count did, indeed, suc- 
ceed in depriving the Croys of their ascendency 
over the Duke of Burgundy, but when that long 
desired victory was attained, the towns had one 
and all accepted their transfer and were under 
French sovereignty. When the count joined the 
league, the hope of ultimate restoration was un- 
doubtedly prominent among the motives for his 
own course of action, though his intimacy with 
the chief leader of the revolt, the Duke of Brittany, 
might easily have led to the same result. 

Towards Francis of Brittany, Louis XL had 
been especially wanting in tact during the first 
months of his reign. The king treated him as a vas- 
sal of France, while the duke held that he and his 
forbears owed simple homage to the crown, not 
dependence. Therefore, in order to resist being 
subordinated, the Duke of Brittany resolved not 
to leave his estates except in a suitable manner. 
His messages to the king were sent in all cere- 
mony, he rendered proper homage, declared 
his readiness to serve him as a kinsman and as 
a vassal for certain territories, but demanded 
freedom to exercise his hereditary rights and to 
enjoy his hereditary dignities.^ 

1 Chastellain. v.. i, etc. 



I20 Charles the Bold 

- "Rude and strange" were the terms employed 
by the king in response to these statements, and 
then he proceeded to encroach still farther on 
the duke's seigniorial rights by attempts to dis- 
pose of the hands of Breton heiresses in unequal 
marriages, and to arrogate to himself other rights 
— all sufficient provocation to justify Francis of 
Brittany in becoming one of the chiefs in the 
league. Very delightful is Chastellain's colloquy 
with himself ^ as to the difficulty of maintaining 
perfect impartiality in discussing the cause of 
this Franco-Burgundian war, but unfortunately 
the result of his patient efforts is lost. 

Olivier de La Marche and Philip de Commines, 
however, were both present in the Burgundian 
army and their stories are preserved. La Marche 
had reason to remember the first actual engage- 
ment between the royal and invading forces at 
Montrh6ry, "because on that day I was made 
knight." He does not say, as does Commines, 
that this battle was against the king's desire. 
Louis had hoped to avoid any use of arms and to 
coerce his rebellious nobles into quiescence by 
other methods. Not that they characterised 
themselves as rebellious, far from it. Clear and 
definite was their statement that in their 
obHgation 

**to give order to the estate, the police and the 
government of the kingdom, the princes of the blood 
as chief supports of the crown, by whose advice and 



The War of Public Weal 1 2 1 

not by that of others, the business of the king and 
of the state ought to be directed, are ready to risk 
their persons and their property, and in this laudable 
endeavour all virtuous citizens ought to aid." * 

Thus" wrote Charles to the citizens of Amiens, 
and the words were typical of similar appeals made 
in every quarter of the realm by the various 
feudal chiefs to their respective subjects. In 
truth this war, ostentatiously called that of 
the Public Weal, was but a struggle on the part 
of the great nobles for local sovereignty. The 
weal demanded was home rule for the feudal 
chiefs. The War of Public Weal was a fierce 
protest against monarchical authority, against 
concentration. A king indeed, but a king in 
leading strings was the ideal of the peers. 

Thus matters stood in June, 1465. Louis 
almost alone, deserted by his brother the Duke 
of Berry, and his nobles banded together in ap- 
parent unity, hedged in by their pompous and 
self-righteous assertions that all their thoughts 
were for the poor oppressed people whose burdens 
needed lightening. Of all the great vassals, 
Gaston de Foix was the single one loyal to the 
king. 

> Letter of the Count of Charolais to the citizens of Amiens. 
{Collection de Documents inedits sur Vhistoire de France.) 
"Melanges," ii., 317. In this collection taken from MS. 
in the Bibl. Nat. there are many letters private and public 
about these events. • 



122 Charles the Bold 

The part of the great duke fell entirely to the 
share of the Count of Charolais. A small force 
was levied for him within the Netherlands, and he 
started for Paris where he hoped to meet contin- 
gents from the two Burgundies and his brother 
peers of France with their own troops. His men 
were good individually but they had not been 
trained to act as one, and there was no coherence 
between the different companies. 

July, 1465, found Charles at St. Denis, the ap- 
pointed rendezvous. He was first in the field. 
While he awaited his allies, his little army be- 
came restive at the situation in which they found 
themselves, fifty leagues from Burgundian terri- 
tory with no stronghold as their base. It was 
urged again and again upon the count that his first 
consideration ought to be his men's safety. His 
allies had failed him. He should retreat. ''I 
have crossed the Oise and the Marne and I will cross 
the Seine if I have but a single page to follow 
me," was the leader's firm reply to these demands. 

The leaguers were slow to keep their pledges, 
and Charles decided that it was his mission to 
prevent Louis from entering his capital, to which 
he was advancing with great rapidity from the 
south. To carry out this purpose Charles disre- 
garded all protests, crossed the Seine at St. Cloud, 
and made his way to the little village of Long- 
jumeau, whither he was preceded by the Count 
of St. Pol, commanding one division of the Bur- 
gundian army. Montl'hery was a village still 



The War of Public Weal 123 

farther to the south, and here it 'was that La 
Marche and other gentlemen were knighted. 
This ceremony was evidently part of the count's 
endeavour to encourage his followers — all un- 
willing to risk an engagement before the arrival 
of the allies. 

To the king it was of infinite advantage that no 
delay should occur. Nevertheless, it was Charles 
who opened active hostilities on July 15th, with 
soldiers who had not broken their fast that day. 
Armed since early dawn, wearied by a forced 
march with a July sun beating down upon their 
heads, their movements hampered by standing 
wheat and rye, the men were at a tremendous 
disadvantage when they were led to the attack. 
It was a hot assault. No quarter was given, 
many fled. At length, Louis found himself aban- 
doned by all save his body-guard. Pressed 
against the hill that bounded the grain fields, 
the king at last retreated up its slope into a 
castle on its summit. 

Charles rode impetuously after the retreating 
royalists. Separated from his men, he fell 
among the royal guard at the gate of the castle. 
There was a vehement assault resisted as vehe- 
mently by his meagre escort. Several fell and 
Charles himself received a sword wound on his 
neck where his armour had slipped. Recognised 
by the French, he might have been taken or slain 
in his resistance, when the Bastard of Burgundy 
rode in and rescued him. Very desperate seemed 



124 Charles the Bold 

the count's condition. When night fell, no one 
knew where lay the advantage. The fugitives 
spread rumours that the king was dead and that 
Charles was in possession, others carried the 
reverse statements as they rode headlong to the 
nearest safety. It was a rout on both sides with 
no credit to either leader. But in the darkness 
of the night, the king managed to slip out of his 
retreat and march quietly towards the greater 
security of Paris. 

It was a very shadowy victory that Charles 
proudly claimed. All through the night of July 
15th, the Burgundians were discussing whether 
to flee or to risk further fighting against the odds 
all recognised. Daybreak found the council in 
session when a peasant brought tidings that the 
foe had departed. The fires in sight only covered 
their retreat. To be sure that same foe had 
taken Burgundian baggage with them to Paris. 
But what of that? The Burgundians held the 
battlefield and they made the best of it. 

On July 1 6th, Louis supped with the military 
governor of Paris and ** moved the company, 
nobles and ladies, to sympathetic tears by his 
touching description of the perils he had met and 
escaped. " Charles, meanwhile, effected a junction 
with his belated allies, Francis of Brittany and 
Charles of France, the Duke of Berry, at Etampes. 
Thither too, came the dukes of Bourbon and of 
Lorraine, but none of these leaguers could claim 
any share in the battle of Montl'hery. 



^1-T^'Jf 




BATTLE OF MONTL'HERY, JULY 16, 1465 
(COMINES, ED. LENGLET DU FRESNOY, I.) 



The War of Public Weal 125 

While these peers perfected their plans to force 
their chief into redressing the wrongs of the poor 
people, the king was showing a very pleasant 
side of his character to the Parisian citizens. 
In response to a petition that he should take 
advice on the conduct of his administration, he 
declared his perfect willingness to add to his 
council six burgesses, six members of parlement, 
and the same number from the university. Be- 
sides this concession, he relieved the weight of the 
imposts and hastened to restore certain financial 
franchises to the Church, to the university, and to 
various individuals. Three weeks were consumed 
in establishing friendly relations in this all import- 
ant city, and then the king departed for Normandy 
to levy troops and to collect provisions for a siege. ^ 
There was need for this last for the allies had 
moved up to the immediate vicinity of Paris. 

Before the king's return to his capital on 
August 28th, a formidable array was encamped 
at Charenton and its neighbourhood. More 
formidable, however, they were in numbers than 
in strength. Like all confederated bodies there 
was inherent weakness, for there was no leader 
whom all would be willing to obey. The Duke of 
Berry, heir presumptive to the throne, was the 
only one among the peers whose birth might have 
commanded the needful authority, but he had 

1 Since its recovery from the English, there had been no 
duke in Normandy. It was thus the one province open to 
the king. • 



126 Charles the Bold 

not sufficient personal character to assert his 
position. So the confederates remained a loose 
aggregation of small armies. The longer they 
remained in camp the weaker they grew, the 
more disintegrated. A pitched battle might 
have been a great advantage to these gallant 
defenders of the Public Weal of France and that 
was the last desire of their antagonist. 

Many skirmishes took place between the Paris- 
ians and the leaguers, but no engageraent. Once, 
indeed, there were hurried preparations on the 
part of the Burgundians to repulse an attack, of 
whose imminence they were warned by a page 
before break of day, one misty morning. Yes, 
there was no doubt. The pickets could see the 
erect spears and furled banners of the enemy 
all ready to advance upon the unwary camp. 
Quick were the preparations. There were no 
laggards. The Duke of Calabria was more quickly 
armed than even the Count of Charolais. He 
came to a spot where a number of Burgundians, 
the count's own household stood, by the standard. 
Among them was Commines * and he heard the 
duke say: "We now have our desire, for the 
king is issued forth with his whole force and 
marches towards us as our scouts report. Where- 
fore let us determine to play the men. So soon 
as they be out of the town we will enter and 
measure with the long ell." By these words he 

1 I., ch. xi. His vivacious story of the siege should be 
read in detail. 



The War of Public Weal 1 2 7 

meant that the soldiers would speedily have a 
chance to use their pikes as yard sticks to measure 
out their share of the booty. False prophet was 
the duke that time! When the daylight grew 
stronger, the upright spears and furled banners 
of the advancing foe proved to be a mass of thistles 
looming large in the magnifying morning mist ! 
The princes took their disappointment philo- 
sophically, enjoyed early mass, and then had their 
breakfast. 

The young Commines is surprised that Paris 
and her environs were rich enough to feed so 
many men. Gradually the aspect of affairs 
changed. Negotiating back and forth became 
more frequent. The disintegration of the allies 
became more and more evident. Louis XI. 
bided his time and then took the extraordinary 
resolution to go in person to the camp at Charenton 
to visit his cousin of Burgundy. With a very few 
attendants, practically unguarded, he went down 
the Seine. His coming had been heralded and 
the Count of Charolais stood ready to receive 
him, with the Count of St. Pol at his side. 
"Brother, do you pledge me safety?" (for the 
count's first wife was sister of Louis) to which 
the count responded: "Yes, as one brother to 
another." ^ 

Nothing could have been more genial than was 
the king. He assured Charles that he loved 
a man who kept his word beyond anything. 

» I., ch. xii. 



128 Charles the Bold 

Veracity was his passion. Charles had kept the 
promise he had sent by the archbishop of 
Narbonne, and now he knew in very truth that he 
was a gentleman and true to the blood of France. 
Further, he disavowed the insolence of his chan- 
cellor towards Charles, and repeated that his 
cousin had been justified in resenting it. "You 
have kept your promise and that long before the 
day." 1 

Then in a friendly promenade, Louis gave an 
opportunity to Charles and St. Pol to state, 
informally, the terms on which they would 
withdraw from their hostile footing, and count 
the weal restored to the oppressed public whose 
sorrows had moved them to a confederation. 

Distasteful as was every item to Louis, he 
accepted the requisition of those who felt that 
they were in a position to dictate, and after a 
little more parleying at later dates, the treaty 
of Conflans was duly arranged. It was none too 
soon for the allies. They could hardly have 
held together many days longer in the midst of 
the jealousies rife in their camps. 

The king paused at nothing. To his brother 
he gave Normandy, to Charles of Burgundy the 
towns on the Somme with guarantee of possession 
for his lifetime, while the Count of St. Pol was 
made Constable of France. 

Boulogne and Guienne, too, were ceded to 
Charles, lesser places and pensions to the other 

» Commines, i., ch. xii. 




LOUIS XI. WITH THE PRINCES AND SEIGNEURS OF THE WAR OF PUBLIC WEAL 

TAKEN FROM CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE IN ABBEY OF ST. GERMAIN DES PRES 
(COMINES-LENGLET, II., FRONTISPIECE) 



The War of Public Weal 129 

confederates. The contest ended with complete 
victory for the allies who were left with the 
proud consciousness that they had set a definite 
limit to royal pretensions, at least, on paper. 

After the treaty was signed, the king showed 
no resentment at his defeat but urged his cousin 
to amuse himself a while in Paris before returning 
home. Charles was rash, but he had not the 
temerity to trust himself so far. Pleading a 
promise to his father to enter no city gate until 
on paternal soil, he declined the invitation and 
soon returned to the Netherlands, where his own 
household had suffered change. During his ab- 
sence, the Countess of Charolais had died and 
been buried at Antwerp. Charles is repeatedly 
lauded for his perfect faithfulness to his wife, but 
her death seems to have made singularly little 
ripple on the surface of his life. The chroniclers 
touch on the event very casually, laying more 
stress on the opportunity it gave Louis XI. to 
offer his daughter Anne as her successor, than on 
the event itself. ^ 

1 La Marche, iii., p. 27. 



CHAPTER VII 

LIEGE AND ITS FATE 
I465-I467 

" TXT' HEN we have finished here we shall make 
Y V a fine beginning against those villains the 
Liegeois." Thus wrote the count's secretary on 
October iSth.^ Charles had no desire to rest on 
the laurels won before Paris. To another city 
he now turned his attention, to Liege which 
owed nothing whatsoever to Burgundy. 

Before the days when the buried treasures 
of the soil filled the air with smoke, the valley 
where Liege lies was a lovely spot. 2 Tradition 
tells how, in the sixth century, Monulphe, Bishop 
of Tongres, as he made a progress through his 
diocese was attracted by the beauties of the site 
where a few hovels then clustered near the Meuse. 
After looking down from the heights to the river's 
banks for a brief space, the bishop turned to his 
followers and said, as if uttering a prophecy: 

1 Doc. inedits sur Vhist. de France. "Melanges," ii., 398. 

2 Polain, Recits historiques sur Vancien pays de LUge, 
I, etc. 

130 



Liege and Its Fate 131 

" Here is a place created by God for the salvation of 
many faithful souls. One day a prosperous city 
shall flourish here. Here I will build a chapel." 
Dedicated to Cosmo and Damian, the promised 
chapel became a shrine which attracted many 
pilgrims who returned to their various homes with 
glowing tales of the beautiful and fertile valley. 
Little by little others came who did not leave, 
and by the seventh century when Bishop Lambert 
sat in the see of Tongres, Liege was a small town. 

An active and loving shepherd was this Lambert. 
He gave himself no rest but travelled continually 
from one church to another in his diocese to look 
after the needs of his flock. He was a fearless 
prelate, too, and his words of well-deserved re- 
buke to the Prankish Pepin for a lawless deed 
excited the wrath of a certain noble, accessory 
to the act. Trouble ensued and Lambert was 
slain as he knelt before the altar in Monulphe's 
chapel at Liege. Absorbed in prayer the pious 
man did not hear the servants' calls, *' Holy 
Lambert, Holy Lambert come to our aid," words 
that later became a war-cry when the bishop 
was exalted into the patron saint of the town. 

Not until the thirteenth century, however, 
when the episcopal see was finally established 
at Liege, was Lambert's successor virtual lay 
overlord of the region as well as Bishop of Liege. 
Monulphe's little chapel had given way to a 
mighty church dedicated to the canonised Bishop 
Lambert. The ecclesiastical state became almost 



132 Charles the Bold 

autonomous, the episcopal authority being re- 
stricted without the walls only by the distant 
emperor and still more distant pope. Within 
the walls, the same authority had by no means 
a perfectly free hand. There were certain 
features in the constitution of Liege which 
differentiated it from its sister towns in the 
Netherlands. 

Municipal affairs were conducted in a singularly 
democratic manner. There was no distinction be- 
tween the greater and lesser gilds, and, within these 
organisations, the franchise was given to the most 
ignorant apprentice had he only fulfilled the simple 
condition of attaining his fifteenth year. More- 
over, the naturalisation laws were very easy. 
Newcomers were speedily transformed into citi- 
zens and enjoyed eligibility to office as well as 
the franchise. The tenure of office being for 
one year only, there was opportunity for frequent 
participation in public affairs, an opportunity 
not neglected by the community.^ 

The bishop was, of course, not one of the civic 
officers chosen by this liberal franchise. He was 
elected by the chapter of St. Lambert, subject to 
papal and imperial ratification for the two spheres 
of his jurisdiction. But in the exercise of his 
function there were many restrictions to his free 
administration, which papal and imperial sanction 
together were unable to remove. ' 

A bishop-prince of Liege could make no change 

> See Kirk, Charles the Bold, i., 329. 



Liege and Its Fate 133 

in the laws without the consent of the estates, 
and he could administer justice only by means of 
the regular tribunals. Every edict had to be 
countersigned. When there was an issue between 
overlord and people, the question was submitted 
to the schepens or superior judges who, before they 
gave their opinion, consulted the various charters 
which had been granted from time to time, 
and which were not allowed to become dead letters. 
A permanent committee of the three orders super- 
vised the executive and the administration of the 
laws. These ''twenty- two" received an appeal 
from the meanest citizen, and the Liege proverb 
"In his own home the poor man is king," was 
very near the possible truth. 

Yet the wheels of government were by no 
means perfect in their running. Many were the 
conflicts between the different members of the 
state, and broils, with the character of civil war 
in miniature, were of frequent occurrence. The 
submergence of the aristocratic element, the 
nobles, destroyed a natural balance of power 
between the bishop-prince and the people. The 
commons exerted power beyond their intelligence. 
Annual elections, party contests headed by rival 
demagogues kept the capital, and, to a lesser 
extent, the smaller towns of the little state in 
continuous commotion. ^ 

1 Jacques de Hemricourt suggested four chief points of 
difficulty in Liege government: 

I. The size of the council — two hundred, where twenty 
would do. 



T34 Charles the Bold 

The ecclesiastical origin of the community 
was evident at all points of daily life. The cathe- 
dral of St. Lambert was the pride of the city. Its 
chapter, consisting of sixty canons, took the place 
held by the aristocratic element in the other towns. 

In the cathedral, the holy standard of St. 
Lambert was suspended. At the outbreak of 
war this was taken down and carried to the door 
by the clergy in solemn procession. There it 
was unfurled and delivered to the commander 
of the civic militia mounted on a snow-white 
steed. When he received the precious charge he 
swore to defend it with his life. 

One object of popular veneration was this 
standard, another was the perron, an emblem of 
the civic organisation. This was a pillar of 
gilded bronze, its top representing a pineapple 
surmounted by a cross. This stood on a pedestal 
in the centre of the square where was the violet 
or city hall. In front of the perron were pro- 
claimed all the ordinances issued by the magis- 
trates, or the decrees adopted by the people in 
general assembly. On these occasions the tocsin 
was rung, the deans of the gilds would hasten out 
with their banners and plant them near the 
perron as rallying points for the various gild 

2. The equal voice granted to all gilds without regard to 
size, when all were assembled by the council to vote on a 
matter. 

3. Extension of franchise to youths of fifteen. 

4. Facile naturalisation laws. 
{See Kirk, i., 325.) 



Liege and Its Fate 135 

members who poured out from forge, work-shop, 
and factory until the square was filled. 

There were two powerful weapons whereby the 
bishop-prince might enforce his will in opposition 
to that of his subjects did the latter become too 
obstreperous. He could suspend the court of the 
schepens, and he could pronounce an interdict 
of the Church which caused the cessation of all 
priestly functions. When this interdict was in 
action, civil suits between burghers could be ad- 
judged by the municipal magistrates, but no 
criminals could be arrested or tried. The ele- 
mentary principles of an organised society were 
thrown into confusion. Still worse confusion 
resulted from the bishop's last resort as prince of 
the Church. An interdict caused the church bells 
to be silent, the church doors to be closed. The 
celebration of the rites of baptism, of marriage, 
of burial ceased.^ The fear of such cessation was 
potent in its restraint, unless the populace were 
too far enraged to be moved by any consideration. 

While the Burgundian dukes extended their 
sway over one portion of Netherland territory 
after another, this little dominion maintained 
its complete independence of them. The fact that 
its princes were elective protected it from lapsing 
through heritage to the duke who had been so 
neatly proven heir to his divers childless kins- 
folk. It was a rich little vineyard without his pale. 

1 In many cases when the interdict was imposed, it is 
probable that it was only partially operative. 



136 Charles the Bold 

They were clever people those Liegeois. Their 
Walloon language is a species of French with 
many peculiarities showing Prankish admixture.^ 
The race was probably a mixed one too, but its 
acquired characteristics made a very different 
person from a Hollander, a Frisian, or a Flem- 
ing, though there was a certain resemblance to the 
latter. 

In 1465, not yet exploited were the wonderful 
resources of coal and minerals which now' glow 
above and below the furnace fires until, from a 
distance, Liege looks like a very Inferno. But 
the people were industrious and energetic in their 
crafts. It was a country of skilled workmen. The 
city of Liege is accredited with one hundred thou- 
sand inhabitants at this epoch, and the numbers 
reported slain in the various battles in which the 
town was involved run into the thousands. 2 

In 1456, Philip of Burgundy, encouraged by his 

» See Victor Hugo, Le Rhin, 1. The Walloon dialect varies 
greatly between the towns. Here are a few words of the 
"Prodigal Son" as they are written in Liege, Huy, and Lille: 

Liege. Jesus lizi d'ha co: In homme aveut deux fis. 
Li pus jone d6rit a s'pere : pere dinnez-m' con qui m' dent riv' 
ni di vosse bin; et I'pere lezi partagea s' bin. 

HuY. J6sus I'zi d'ha co: Eun homme avut deux fis. Li 
peus jone d^rit a s'pere etc. 

Lille. Jesus leu dit incore: un homme avot deux gar- 
chens. L' pus jeune dit a sin pere-mon pere donez me ch que 
j'dor recouvre d'vo bien; et I'pere leu-z-a don^ a chacun leu 
parchen. See also Doc. inedits concernant Vhist. de la Belgique, 
{{., 238, for comment on Scott's treatment of the language. 

2 The numbers are probably exaggerated. To-day it 
contains about two hundred thousand, 



Liege and Its Fate 137 

success in the diocese of Utrecht, obtained a cer- 
tain ascendency over the affairs of Liege by inter- 
fering in the election of a bishop. There was no 
natural vacancy at the moment. John of Heins- 
berg was the incumbent, a very pleasant prelate 
with conciliatory ways. He loved amusement 
and gay society, pleasures more easily obtainable 
in Philip's court than in his own, and his agreeable 
host found means of persuading him to resign all 
the cares of his see. Then the enterprising duke 
proceeded to place his own nephew, Louis of 
Bourbon, upon the vacant episcopal throne. 

This nephew was an eighteen-year-old student 
at the University of Louvain, destitute of a single 
qualification for the office proposed. Neverthe- 
less, all difficulties, technical and general were 
ignored, and a papal dispensation enabled the 
candidate even to dispense with the formality of 
taking orders. Attired in scarlet with a feathered 
Burgundian cap on his head, Louis made his entry 
into his future capital and was duly enthroned 
as bishop-prince in spite of his manifest unfitness 
for the place. 

Nor did he prove a pleasant surprise to his peo- 
ple, better than the promise of his youth, as some 
reckless princes have done. On the contrary, 
ignorant, sensuous, extortionate, he was soon at 
drawn swords with his subjects. After a time 
he withdrew to Huy where he indulged in gross 
pleasures while he attempted to check the rebel- 
lious citizens of his capital by trying some of the 



138 Charles the Bold 

measures of coercion used by his predecessors as a 
last resort. 

Liege was lashed into a state of fury. Matters 
dragged on for a long time. The people appealed 
to Cologne, to the papal legate, to the pope, and to 
the ''pope better informed," but no redress was 
given. Philip continued to protect the bishop, 
and none dared put themselves in opposition to 
him. Finally, the people turned to Louis XL for 
aid. Their appeal was heard and the king's 
agent arrived in the city just as one of the bishop's 
interdicts was about to be enforced, an interdict, 
too, endorsed by a papal bull, threatening the 
usual anathema if the provisions were not 
obeyed. 

It was the moment for a demagogue and one 
appeared in the person of Raes de la Riviere, lord 
of Heers. On July 5, 1465, there was to be unbrok- 
en silence in all sacred edifices. Heers and his fol- 
lowers proclaimed that every priest who refused 
to chant should be thrown into the river. Mass 
was said under those unpeaceful and unspiritual 
conditions, and the presence of the French envoys 
gave new heart to the bishop's opponents. A 
treaty was signed between the Liegeois and Louis ; 
wherein mutual pledges were made that no 
peace should be concluded with Burgundy in 
which both parties were not included. It was a 
solemn pledge but it did not hamper Louis when 
he signed the treaty of Conflans whose articles 
contained not a single reference to the Liegeois. 



• Liege and Its Fate 139 

Meanwhile, it chanced that the first report of 
the battle of Montl'hery reaching Liege gave the 
victory to Louis, a report that spurred on the 
Liegeois to carry their acts of open hostiHty to 
their neighbour, still farther afield. The other 
towns of the Church state were infected by an anti- 
Burgundian sentiment. In Dinant this feeling was 
high, and there was, moreover, a manifestation 
of special animosity against the Count of Charolais. 
A rabble marched out of the city to the walls of 
Bouvignes, a town of Namur, loyal to Burgundy, 
carrying a stuffed figure with a cow-bell round its 
neck. Certain well-known emblems of Burgundy on 
a tattered mantle showed that this represented 
Charles of Burgundy. With rude words the crowd 
declared that they were going to hang the effigy as 
his master, the King of France, had already hanged 
Count Charles in reality. Further, they said 
that he was no count at all, but the son of their 
old bishop, Heinsberg. They went so far as to 
suspend the effigy on a gallows and then riddled 
it with arrows and left it dangling like a scare- 
crow in sight of the citizens of Bouvignes. ^ 

The actual contents of the treaty made at 
Conffans did not reach Liege until messages from 
Louis had assured them that he had been mindful 
of their interests in making his own terms, assur- 
ances, however, coupled with advice to make peace 
with their good friend the duke. But there 
speedily came later information that the only 

1 Du Clercq, iv., 203. 



140 Charles the Bold 

mention of Liege in the new treaty was an apology 
that Louis had ever made friends in that 
city ! 

The rebels lost heart at once. Without the 
king, they had no confidence in their own efforts. 
Envoys were despatched to Philip who refused 
to answer their humble requests for pardon until 
his son could decide what punishment the prin- 
cipality deserved. Nor was much delay to be 
anticipated before an answer would be forthcoming. 
Charles hastened to Liege direct from Paris, not 
pausing even to greet his father. By the third 
week of January, he was encamped between St. 
Trond and Tongres, where a fresh deputation 
from Liege found him. These envoys, between 
eighty and a hundred, were well armed chiefly 
because they feared attacks from their anti-peace 
fellow-citizens. ^ 

They found Charles flushed by his recent 
achievement of bringing King Louis to his way of 
thinking. His army, too, was a stronger body 
than when it left the Netherlands. The troops 
were more skilled from their experience and elated 
at what they counted their success ; more capable, 
too, of acting as one body under the guidance of a 
resolute leader, now inclined to despise councils 
with free discussion. The count's quick temper 
had gained him weight but it had made him feared. 
The slightest breach of discipline brought a thun- 
der-cloud on his face. If we may believe one 

» Du Clercq, iv., 249. 



Liege and Its Fate 141 

authority,^ he himself was often so lacking in 
discipline that he would strike an officer with a 
baton, and once at least, he killed a soldier with 
his own hand. 

His audience with the envoys resulted in a 
treaty, of which certain articles were so harsh 
that the messengers were insulted when the 
report was made in Liege. Only eleven out of 
thirty- two gilds voted to accept all the articles. 
A certain noble on pleasant terms with the count 
offered to carry the unpopular document back 
to him to ask for a modification of the harsh 
terms. 

By this time the weather was severe. Charles's 
troops were in need of repose, and it seemed 
prudent to avoid hostility if possible. Charles 
revoked the objectionable clauses in consideration 
of an increase of the war indemnity. With this 
change the treaty was accepted, and a Piteous 
Peace it was indeed for the proud folk of Liege. 
Instead of owing allegiance to emperor and to 
pope alone as free imperial citizens, they agreed 
to recognise the Burgundian dukes as hereditary 
protectors of Liege. 

When it was desired, Burgundian troops could 
march freely across the territory. Burgundian 
coins were declared valid at Burgundian values. 
No Liege fortresses were to menace Burgundian 
marches, and unqualified obedience was pledged 
to the new overlords. The same terms were 

1 Du Clercq, iv., 239-262, 



142 Charles the Bold 

conceded to all the rebel towns alike except 
to Dinant. The story of the personal insult to 
himself and his mother had reached the count's 
ears and he was not inclined to ignore the cir- 
cumstance. His further action was, however, 
deferred. 

January 24, 1466, is the final date of the treaty* 
and, after its conclusion, Charles ordered a review 
of his forces, a review that almost culminated in 
a pitched battle between army and citizens of 
St. Trond, and then on January 31st, the count 
returned to Brussels where there was a great dis- 
play of Burgundian etiquette before the duke 
embraced his victorious son. 

Piteous as was the peace for Liege and the 
province at large, still more piteous was the 
lot of Dinant which alone was excluded from 
the participation in the treaty. Her fate remained 
uncertain for months. Other affairs occupied 
the Count of Charolais until late in the summer 
of 1466. Time had quickly proven that Louis, 
well freed from the allies pressing up to the gates 
of Paris, was in very different temper from Louis 
ill at ease under their strenuous demands. Not 
only had he withdrawn his promises in regard 
to the duchy conferred on his brother, but he 
had begun taking other measures, ostensibly 
to prepare against a possible English invasion, 
which alarmed his cousin of Burgundy for the 

1 Gachard, Doc. ined., ii., 285, 322. For letters and ne- 
gotiations anterior to this peace see p. 197 et seq. 



Liege and Its Fate i43 

undisturbed possession of his recently recovered 
towns on the Somme. 

Excited by the rumours of Louis's purposes, 
Charles despatched the following letter from 
Namur ^ : 

"Monseigneur: 

"I recommend myself very humbly to your good 
grace and beg to inform you, Monseigneur, that 
recently I have been advised of something very sur- 
prising to me, Moreover, I am now put beyond doubt 
considering the source of my information. It is with 
much regret that I communicate it to you when I 
remember all the good words you have given to me this 
year, orally and in writing. Monseigneur, it is evi- 
dent that there has been some agreement between 
your people and the English, and that the matter 
has been so well worked that you have consented, 
as I have heard, to yield them the land of Caux, 
Rouen, and the connecting villages, and to aid them 
in withholding Abbeville and the county of Ponthieu, 
and further, to cement with them certain alliances 
against me and my country in making them large 
offers greatly to my prejudice and, in order to com- 
plete the whole, they are to come to Dieppe. 

" Monseigneur, you may dispose of your own as you 
wish: but, Monseigneur, in regard to what concerns 
me, it seems to me that you would do better to leave 
my property in my hand than to be the instrument 
of putting it into the hands of the English or of any 
foreign nation. For this reason I entreat you, Mon- 
seigneur, that if such overtures or greater ones have 

1 Duclos, v., 236. 



144 Charles the Bold 

been opened by your people that you will not commit 
yourself to them in any manner but will insist on 
their cessation, and that you will do this in a way 
that I may always have cause to remain your very 
humble servant as I desire to do with all my heart. 
Above all, write to me your good pleasure, and I im- 
plore you, Monseigneur, if there be any service that I 
can render you, I am the one who would wish to 
employ all that God has given me [to do it]. Written 
at Namur, August i6th. 

"Your very humble and obedient subject, 

"Charles." 

Then the count proceeded to Dinant to inflict 
the punishment that the culprits had, to his mind, 
too long escaped. 

Commines calls this a strong and rich town, 
superior even to Liege. ^ A comparison of the two 
sites shows, however, that this statement could 
hardly have been true at any time. Dinant lies in 
a narrow space between the Meuse and high land. 
A lofty rock at one end of the town dominating 
the river is crowned by a fortress most picturesque 
in appearance. It is difficult to estimate how 
many inhabitants there actually were in the 
place in 1466, but there is no doubt as to their 
energy and character. As mentioned before, the 
artisans had acquired a high degree of skill in their 
specialty, and their brass work was renowned far 
and wide. Pots and pans and other utensils 
were known as Dinanderies. 

1 Book II., ch. i. To-day there are only about eight thou- 
sand inhabitants. 



Liege and Its Fate 145 

The traffic in them was so important that 
Dinant had had her own commercial relations 
with England for a long period. Her merchants 
enjoyed the same privileges in London as the 
members of the Hanseatic League, and an English 
company was held in high respect at Dinant. ^ 
The brass-founders' gild ranked a,t Dinant as the 
drapers at Lou vain, and the weavers at Ghent. 
As a " great gild they formed a middle class be- 
tween the lower gilds and the bourgeois,'' the mer- 
chants and richer folk.^ In municipal matters 
each of these three classes had a separate vote. 

As it happened, Dinant had not been very 
ready to open hostilities against the House of 
Burgundy though she was equally critical of 
Louis of Bourbon in his episcopal misrule. It 
was undoubtedly her rivalry with Bouvignes of 
Namur that brought her into the strife. That 
neighbour had taunted her rival to exasperation, 
and the fact that it was safe under the Duke of 
Burgundy and backed by him as Count of Namur, 
had brought a Burgundian element into the local 
contest. 

The incidents of the insult to Charles and the 
aspersion on his mother's reputation undoubtedly 
were due to an irresponsible rabble rather than 
to any action that could properly be attributed 
to the leading men. Further, it really seems 
probable that the weight attached to the insulting 

» In addition to Commines and Du Clercq see also Kirk, i., 
385, for quotations from Borgnet and others. 
2 Gachard, Doc. ined., i., 213, et passim. 



14^ Charles the Bold 

act never occurred to the respectable burghers 
until they heard of it from others, so insignificant 
were the participants in it. 

As soon as it was realised that serious conse- 
quences might result from reckless folly, the 
authorities were quite ready to separate them- 
selves from the event, and to arrest the culprits 
as common malefactors. Once, indeed, the pris- 
oners were temporarily rescued by their friends, 
and it seemed to Burgundian sympathisers a 
suspicious circumstance that this happened just at 
a moment when there was renewed hope for help 
from Louis XI. When convinced that such hopes 
were vain, the magistrates became seriously 
alarmed and ready to go to any lengths to avert 
Burgundian vengeance. Finally the following 
letter was despatched to the Duke of Burgundy ^ : 

"The poor, humble and obedient servants and 
subjects of the most reverend father in God, Louis 
of Bourbon, Bishop of Liege, and your petty neigh- 
bours and borderers, the burgomaster's council and 
folk of Dinant, humbly declare that it has come to 
their knowledge that the wrath of your grace has 
been aroused against the town on account of certain 
ill words spoken by some of the inhabitants thereof, 
in contempt of your honourable person. The city is 
as displeased about these words as it is possible to be, 
and far from wishing to excuse the culprits has arrested 
as many as could be found and now holds them in 
durance awaiting any punishment your grace may 
decree. As heartily and as lovingly as possible do 

» Gachard, Doc. ined., ii., 350. 



Liege and Its Fate 147 

your petitioners beseech your grace to permit your 
anger to be appeased, holding the people of Dinant 
exonerated, and resting satisfied with the punishment 
of the guilty, inasmuch as the people are bitterly 
grieved on account of the insults and have, as before 
stated, arrested the culprits." 

With further apologies for any failure of duty 
towards the Duke of Burgundy, the petitioners 
humbly begged to be granted the same terms that 
Liege and the other towns had received. March 
3 ist is the date of this humble document. Months 
of doubt followed before the terrible experience 
of August proved the futility of their pleas, to 
which the ducal family refused to listen, so deep 
was their sense of personal aggrievement. Long 
as it was since the duchess had taken part in public 
affairs, she, too, had a word to say here. And 
she, too, was implacable against the town where 
any citizen had dared accuse her of infidelity to 
her husband and to the Church whose interests 
were more to her than anything in the world 
except her son. 1 

The petition was as unheeded as were all the 
representations of the would-be mediators. Again 
Dinant turned in desperation to Louis XL and 
with assurances that after God his royal majesty 

1 Est falme commune que tres haute princesse la ducesse 
de Bourgogne, k cause desdictes injures at conclut telle 
hayne sur cestedite ville de Dinant qu'elle a jur^ comme on 
dist que s'il li devoit couster tout son vaellant, fera ruynner 
cestedite ville en mettant toutes personnes k I'esp^e, (Ga- 
chard, Doc. vned., ii., 222.) 



148 Charles the Bold 

was their only hope, besought him from mere 
charity and pity to persuade his cousin of Bur- 
gundy to forgive them. Apparently Louis took 
no notice of this appeal. Dinant's last hope was 
that her fellow-communes of Liege would refuse 
to ratify the treaty unless she, too, were included. 
The sole concession, obtained by their envoys to 
Charles in the winter, had been a short truce after- 
wards extended to May, 1466. 

During that summer the critical position of the 
little town was well known. Some sympathisers 
offered aid but it was aid that there was possible 
danger in accepting. Many of the outlaws from 
Liege, who had been expressly excluded from the 
terms of the peace, had joined the ranks of a cer- 
tain free lance company called " The Companions 
of the Green Tent," as their only shelter was the 
interlaced branches of the forest. To Dinant 
came this band to aid in her defence.^ At one 
time it seemed as though a peaceful accommoda- 
tion might be reached but it fell through. Not 
yet were the citizens ready to surrender their 
charters — ''Franchises, — to the rescue," was a 
frequent cry and no treaty was made. 

Philip, long inactive, resolved to assist at the 
reduction of this place in person. Too feeble to 
ride, he was carried to the Meuse in a litter, and 
arrived at Namur on August 14th. Then at- 
tended by a small escort only, he proceeded to 
Bouvignes, a splendid vantage point whence he 

I Gachard, Doc. ined., ii., 337, et passim. 



Liege and Its Fate 149 

could command a view of the scene of his son's 
intended operations. As the crisis became immi- 
nent there were a few further efforts to effect a 
reconciHation. When these failed, the town pre- 
pared to meet the worst. ^ Stories gravely related 
by Du Clercq2 represent the people of Dinant 
goaded to actual fury of resistance. 

By August 17th, the Burgundian troops made 
their appearance, winding down to the river. Con- 
spicuous among the standards — and nobles from 
all Philip's dominions were in evidence — was the 
banner of the Count of Charolais, displaying St. 
George slaying the dragon. 

On Tuesday, August 19th, Dinant was invested 
and the siege began. Within the walls the most 
turbulent element had gained complete control of 
affairs. All thought of prudence was thrown to 
the winds. From the walls they hurled words 
at the foe : 

" Is your old doll of a duke tired of life that you 
have brought him here to perish ? ^ Your Count 
Charlotel is a green sprout. Bid him go fight the 
King of France at Montl'hery. If he waits for 
the noble Louis or the Liegeois he will have to 
take to his heels," etc. 

It was a heavy siege and the town was riddled 

1 Du Clercq, iv., 273. 

2 He says messengers were put to death without regard 
to their sacred office, even a little child being torn limb from 
limb. Priests were thrown into the river for refusing to say- 
mass, and the situation was strained to the last degree. 

3 Qui a mande ce vieil monnart vostre due, etc. 



I50 Charles the Bold 

with cannon-balls but there was no assault. By 
the sixth day the magistrates determined to send 
their keys to the Count of Charolais and beg for 
mercy. The captain of the great gild of copper- 
smiths, Jean de Guerin, tried to encourage the 
faint-hearted to protest openly against this pro- 
cedure. Seizing the city colours he declared: 
" I will trust to no humane sentiment. I am 
ready to carry this flag to the breach and to live 
or die with you. If you surrender, I will quit the 
town before the foe enter it." It was too late, 
the capitulation was made. 

When the keys were brought to Charles he 
remembered that he was not yet duke and ordered 
them presented to his father in his stead, and to 
his half-brother Anthony was entrusted the task 
of formally accepting the surrender. 

It was late in the evening when the Bastard 
of Burgundy marched in. At first he held the 
incoming troops well under control, but the stores 
of wine were easy to reach, and by the morning 
there were wild scenes of disorder. When Charles 
arrived, however, on the morrow, Tuesday, just a 
week after the beginning of the siege, lawlessness 
was checked with a strong hand. Any ill treat- 
ment of women was peculiarly repugnant to him, 
and he did not hesitate to execute the sternest 
justice upon offenders.^ 

His entry into the fallen town was made with 
all the wonted Burgundian pomp. Nothing in the 

» Du Clercq, iv., 278. 



ANTHONY OF BURGUNDY 
AFTER HANS MEMLING. DRESDEN GALLERY 



Liege and Its Fate 151 

proceedings occurred in a headlong or passionate 
manner. A council of war was held and the 
proceedings decided upon. The cruelty that was 
exercised was used in deliberate punishment, 
not in savage lawlessness. The personal insults 
to his mother and to himself rankled in the count's 
mind. As one author remarks ^ with undoubted 
reason, it is not likely that any of those responsible 
for the insult were among those punished. After 
the siege, '' pitiable it was to see, for the innocent 
suffered and the guilty escaped." 

Certain rich citizens bought their lives with 
large sums, others were sold as slaves,^ or were 
hanged or beheaded, or were thrown into the 
Meuse.^ In the monasteries, life was conceded 
to the inmates but that was all. All their property 
was confiscated. The Count of St. Pol, now Con- 
stable of France, tried to intercede for the citizens 
with Philip who remained at Bouvignes, but to 
no result. It might have been chance or it might 
have been intentional that at last flames com- 
pleted the work of destruction. The abode of 
Adolph of Cleves, at the corner of Notre Dame, 
was found to be on fire at about one o'clock in the 
morning of Thursday, August 28th. 

That Charles was responsible for this confiagra- 

» De Ram, Documents relatifs aux troubles du pays de Liege, 
"Henricus de Merica," p. 159. 

2 Vel vendebantur in servos. See De Ram et passim for 
documents. 

3 It seems to be well attested that the prisoners were tied 
together and drowned. 



152 Charles the Bold 

tion Du Clercq thinks is incredible. ^ He would 
certainly have saved all ecclesiastical property 
which was almost completely consumed. Indeed, 
Charles gave orders to extinguish the flames as 
soon as they were discovered, but every one was 
so occupied with saving his own portion of booty 
that nothing was accomplished and the town-hall 
caught fire and the church of Notre Dame. From 
the latter some ornaments and treasures were 
saved and the bones of Ste. Perpete, with other 
holy relics, were rescued by Charles himself at risk 
to his own life. 

*'It was never known how the fire originated. 
Some say it was due to a defective flue. To my 
mind," [concludes the pious historian], 2 "it was the 
Divine Will that Dinant should be destroyed on 
account of the pride and ill deeds of the people. I 
trust to God who knows all. The duke's people alone 
lost more than a hundred thousand crowns' value." 

Cy fust Dinant, '' Dinant was," is the sum of his 
description, four days after the conflagration.^ 

On September ist, Philip, who had remained 
at Bouvignes while all this passed under the 
direction of Charles, took boat and sailed down 
to Namur. It was almost a triumph, — ^that trip 
that proved one of the last ever made by the proud 
duke — and the procession on the river and the 

1 Du Clercq, iv., 280. 

^Ihid., 281. 

3 In 1472, a new church was erected "on the spot formerly 
called Dinant " and after that, little by little, the town came 
to life. (Gachard, Analectes Belgiques, 318, etc.). 



Liege and Its Fate 153 

entry into Namur were closed by a humble em- 
bassy from Liege in regard to certain points of 
their peace. 

Du Clercq gravely relates, by the way, that the 
Count of St. Pol's men had had no part in the 
plunder of Dinant. This was hard on the poor 
fellows. Therefore, Philip turned over to their 
mercies, as a compensation for this deprivation, 
the little town of Tuin, which had been rebellious 
and then submitted. Tuin accepted its fate, sub- 
mitted to St. Pol, and then compounded the right 
of pillage for a round sum of money. Moreover, 
they promised to lay low their gates and their 
walls and those of St. Trond. In this way, it is 
said that the constable made ten thousand 
Rhenish florins. Still both he and his men felt 
ill-compensated for the loss of the booty of Dinant. 

Charles continued a kind of harassing warfare 
on the various towns of Liege territory. The 
people of Liege themselves seem to have varied 
in their humour towards Charles, sometimes being 
very humble in their petitions for peace and again 
very insolent. As a rule, this conduct seems to 
be traceable to their hope of Louis's support. 
On September 7th, there was one pitched battle 
where victory decided the final terms of the 
general peace, and after various skirmishes and 
submissions, Charles disbanded his troops for the 
winter and joined his father at Brussels, 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE NEW DUKE 
1467 

THE Good Duke's journey to Bouvignes where 
he witnessed the manner in which his au- 
thority was vindicated was his last effort. In 
the early summer following, on Friday, June loth, 
Philip, then at Bruges, was taken ill and died on 
the following Monday, June 13th, between nine 
and ten in the evening. ^ Charles was summoned 
on the Sunday, and it seemed as though his horse's 
hoofs hardly struck the pavement as he rode, so 
swift was his course on the way to Bruges. 

When he reached the house where his father lay 
dying, he was told that speech had already ceased, 
but that there was still life. The count threw 
himself on his knees by the bedside, weeping in all 
tenderness, and implored a paternal benediction 
and pardon for all wherein he had offended his 
father. Near the duke stood his confessor who 
begged the dying man to make a sign if he could 

1 Du Clercq, iv., 302 et seq. Erasmus was born in this 
year, 1467. 

154 



The New Duke 155 

still understand what was said to him. On this 
admonition and in reply to his son's prayers, 
Philip turned his eyes to Charles, looked at him 
and pressed the hand which was laid upon his own, 
but further token was beyond his strength. The 
count stayed by his side until he breathed his 
last. 

Thus ended the life of a man who had been 
a striking figure in Europe for forty years. 
His most fervent dream, indeed, had never been 
fulfilled. All his pompous vows to wrest the 
Holy Land from the invading Turks had proved 
vain. Many years had passed since he had had 
military success of any kind, and even in his 
earlier life his successes had been owing to diplo- 
macy and to a happy conjunction of circum- 
stances rather than to skilful generalship. He 
possessed pre-eminently the power of personality. 

When Duke John of Burgundy fell on the bridge 
at Montereau and Philip came into his heritage, 
Henry V. of England was in the full flush of his 
prosperity, standing triumphant over England 
and France, and in a position to make good his 
claim with three stalwart brothers to back him. 
All these young men had died prematurely. 
Their only descendant was Henry VI., and that 
meagre and wretched representative of the ambi- 
tious Henry V. had had no spark of the character 
of his father and uncles. The one vigorous ele- 
ment in his life was his wife, Margaret of Anjou, 
who diligently exerted herself to keep her husband 



156 Charles the Bold 

on his throne. In vain were her efforts. By 1467, 
Edward of York was on that throne. Gone, too, 
was Charles VII., whose father's acts had clouded 
his early, whose son darkened his latter years. 

Out of his group of contemporaries, Duke 
Philip alone had marched steadily to every desired 
goal. His epitaph gave a fairly accurate list of 
his achievements in doggerel verses: 

**John was born of Philip, child of good King John. 
To that John, I, Philip, was born his eldest son. 
Flanders, Artois, and Burgundy his will bequeathed 

to me 
Therein to follow him and rule them legally. 
With Holland, Zealand, Hainaut, my own realm 

greater grew. 
Luxemburg, Brabant, Namur soon were added too. 
The Liegeois and the German my lawful rights defied. 
By force of right and arms they have been pacified. 
At one single time against me were maintained 
French, English, German forces, — nothing have they 

gained. 
Against King Charles the Seventh, I warred in great 

array. 
From me he begged a peace and king was from that 

day! 
The mighty conflicts that I fought in all are numbered 

seven. 
Not once was I defeated. To God the praise be given. 
Time and time again Liege and Ghent revolted. 
But I put them down. I would not be insulted. 
In Barrois and Lorraine, King Rene warred upon me. 
Of Sicily erst king, captivity soon won he. 



The New Duke 157 

Louis, son of Charles, depressed and refugee, 

From me received his crown. Five years my guest 

was he. 
Edward, Duke of York, fled, wretched, to my land; 
That now he 's England's king is due my aid and 

hand. 
To defend the Church, which is the House Divine, 
The Golden Fleece was founded, that great order 

mine. 
Christian faith to succour in vigour and in strength, 
My galleys sailed the sea in all its dreary length. 
In later days I planned and most sincerely meant 
To take the field myself, but Death did that prevent. 
When Eugene the Pope by the council was disdained. 
Through my control alone as Pope was he retained. 
In 1467, Time my goal has set. 
When I am seventy- one, I pay Dame Nature's debt. 
With father and grandfather, I now lie buried here. 
As in life I ever was their equal and their peer. 
Good Jesu was my guide in every word and deed. 
Beseech him every one that Heaven be my meed! " 

The territories thus named, that passed to the 
new duke, covered a goodly space of earth. Had 
Philip not slacked his ambition at a critical time, 
undoubtedly he could have left a royal rather 
than a ducal crown to his son. He did not so will 
it, and, moreover, in a way he had receded from 
his independence as he had accepted feudal obli- 
gations towards Louis XL which he never had 
towards Charles VII. 

Lured by the hope of becoming prime adviser 
of the French king, he had emphasised his position 



158 Charles the Bold 

as first peer of France. Thus it was as Duke of 
Burgundy par excellence that Philip died, as the 
typical peer whose luxury and magnificence far 
surpassed the state possible to his acknowledged 
liege. To his son was bequeathed the task of 
attempting to turn that ducal state into state 
royal, and of establishing a realm which should 
hold the balance of power between France and 
Germany. 

There was no doubt in Charles's mind as to 
which was the greater, the cleverer, the more 
powerful of the two, Louis the king and Charles 
the duke. Had not the former been a beggarly 
suppliant at his father's gates, as dauphin? As 
king, had he not been forced to yield at the gates 
of his own capital to every demand made by 
Charles, standing as the conscientious representa- 
tive of the public welfare of France? 

Had not Louis befriended the contumelious 
neighbour of Charles, only to learn that his Bur- 
gundian cousin could and would deal summarily 
with all protests against his authority among the 
lesser folk on Netherland territory? 

The Croys made an attempt to gain the new 
duke's friendship, as appears from this letter to 
Duke Charles: 

"Our very excellent lord, we have heard that it has 
pleased Our Lord to take to Himself and to withdraw 
from the world the good Duke Philip, our beloved 
lord and father, prince of glorious memory, august 
duke, most Christian champion of the faith, patron 



The New Duke 159 

and pattern of the virtues and honours of Christianity, 
and the dread of infidel lands. By his valorous deeds, 
he has won an immortal name among living men, and 
deserves to our mind to find grace before the merciful 
bounty of God whom we implore to pardon his faults. 

"Alas! our most doughty seigneur, thus dolorous 
death shows what is to be expected by all mortals. 
How many lands, how many nobles, how many peoples, 
how many treasures, and how many powers would 
have been ready to prevent what has come to pass, 
and how many prayers would have risen to God 
could He have prevented this death ! . . . 

" Death is inevitable, and the death of the good is 
the end of all evils and the beginning of all benefits, 
but still your loss and ours cannot pass without afflic- 
tion. Nevertheless, our most puissant lord, when we 
consider that we are not left orphans, and that you, 
his only son, remain to fill his place, this is a cause for 
comfort. 

"We implore you to be pleased to count us your 
loyal subjects and very humble servitors and to per- 
mit us to go to you, to thus declare ourselves, etc. 

"A. De Croy, 
'•J. De Croy." 

At the time of the duke's death, Olivier de La 
Marche was in England, v^hither he had accom- 
panied the Bastard of Burgundy on a mission to 
King Edward. 1 Right royally had the latter 
received the embassy. 

"Clad in purple, the gaiter on his leg and a great 
baton in his hand, he seemed, indeed, a personage 
» n., 49- 



i6o Charles the Bold 

worthy of being king, for he was a fine prince with a 
grand manner. A count held the sword in front of 
him, and around his throne were from twenty to 
twenty-five old councillors, white-haired and looking 
like senators gathered together to advise their master." 

Thus appeared Edward on the occasion of a 
tourney given in honour of the embassy which 
La Marche proceeds to describe in detail. The 
Bastard of Burgundy, wearing the Burgundian 
coat-of-arms with a bar sinister, made a fine 
record for himself. 

After the tournament he invited the ladies to a 
Sunday dinner, 

"especially the Queen and her sisters and made great 
preparations therefor and then we departed, Thomas 
de Loreille, Bailiff of Caux, and I to go to Brittany to 
accomplish our embassy. We arrived at Pleume 
and were obliged to await wind and boats to go into 
Brittany. While there, came the news that the Duke 
of Burgundy was dead. You may believe how great 
was the bastard's mourning when he heard of his 
father's death, and how the nobility who were with 
him mourned too. Their pleasures were melted into 
tears and lamentations for he died like a prince in all 
valour. 

"In his life he accomplished two things to the full. 
One was he died as the richest prince of his time, for 
he left four hundred thousand crowns of gold cash, 
seventy- two thousand marks of silver plate, without 
counting rich tapestries, rings, gold dishes garnished 
with precious stones, a large and well equipped 
library, and rich furniture. For the second, he died 



The New Duke i6i 

as the most liberal duke of his time. He married his 
nieces at his own expense ; he bore the whole cost of 
great wars several times. At his own expense, he 
refitted the church and chapel at Jerusalem. He gave 
ten thousand crowns to build the tower of Burgundy 
at Rhodes; - - , No one went from him who 
was not well recompensed. The state he maintained 
was almost royal. For five years he supported Mon- 
seigneur the Dauphin, and was a prince so renowned 
that all the world spoke well of him." 

The Bastard of Burgundy took leave of the 
English court and hastened to Bruges to join his 
brother, the Count of Charolais, who received him 
warmly. "Henceforth," explains Olivier, **when 
I mention the said count I will call him the Duke 
of Burgundy as is reasonable." 

Solemnly was the prince's body carried into the 
church of St. Donat in Bruges, there to repose 
until it could be taken to Burgundy to be buried at 
Dijon with his ancestors. La Marche dismisses 
the funeral with a brief phrase as he was not him- 
self present at Bruges, being busied in Brittany. 
There was a memorial service there, the finest he 
ever saw. The arms of Burgundy were inserted 
in the chapel decorations, not merely pinned on, ^ 
a fact that impressed the chronicler. No nobles, 
not even those from Flanders, were permitted to 
put on mourning. The Duke of Brittany declared 
that none but him was worthy of the honour for so 
high a prince. 

» "Non par armes attach6es k espingles.'i 
II 



i62 Charles the Bold 

"So he alone wore mourning. At the end of the 
service I went to thank him for the reverence he had 
shown the House of Burgundy, and he responded that 
he had only done his duty. Then I finished my busi- 
ness as quickly as I could and crossed the sea again 
and returned to my new master." 

In his treatise on the eminent deeds of the 
Duke of Burgundy,^ Chastellain recounts, more 
at length than La Marche, all that his great master 
had accomplished. Then he proceeds to describe 
the duke as he knew him. 

He was medium in height, rather slight but 
straight as a rush, strong in hip and in arm, his 
figure well-knit. His neck was admirably pro- 
portioned to his body, his hand and foot were 
slender, he had more bone than flesh, but his 
veins were full-blooded. Like all his ancestors, 
his face was long, as was his nose, his forehead 
high. His complexion was brunette, his hair 
brownish, soft, and straight, his beard and eye- 
brows the same colour, but the former curly, the 
latter were bushy and inclined to stand up like 
horns when he was angry. His mouth was well- 
proportioned, his lips full and high-coloured; his 
eyes were grey, sometimes arrogant but usually 
amiable in expression. His personality corre- 
sponded perfectly to his appearance. His coun- 
tenance showed his character, and his character 
was a witness to the truth of his physiognomy. 
Nothing was contradictory, perfect was the 

1 CEuvres, vii., 213. 



The New Duke 163 

harmony between the inner and the outer man, 
between the nobility of thought and the simple 
dignity, well-poised and graceful. Among the 
great ones of this earth, he was like a star in 
heaven. Every line proclaimed *' I am a prince 
and a man unique." 

It was for his bearing rather than his beauty 
that he commanded universal admiration. In a 
stable he would have looked like an image in a 
temple. In a hall he was the decoration. Where- 
ever his body was, there, too, was his spirit, ready 
for the demands of the hour. He was singularly 
joyous and nicely tempered in speech with so 
much personal magnetism that he could mollify 
any enemy if he could only meet him face to face. 
His dress was always rich and appropriate. He 
was skilful in horsemanship, in archery, and in 
tennis, but his chief amusement was the chase. 
He liked to linger at the table and demanded good 
serving but was really moderate in his tastes, 
as often he neglected pheasant for a bit of Mayence 
ham or salted beef. Oaths and abuse were never 
heard from him. To all alike his speech was courte- 
ous even when there was nothing to be gained. 

"Never, I assert, did falsehood pass his lips, 
his mouth was equal to his seal and his spoken 
word to his written. Loyal as fine gold and 
whole as an egg.'' Chastellain repeats himself 
somewhat in the profusion of his eulogy, but such 
are the main points of his characterisation. Then 
he proceeds to some qualifications : 



1 64 Charles the Bold 

"In order to avoid the charge of flattery, I ac- 
knowledge that he had faults. None is perfect except 
God. ' Often he was very careless in administration, 
and he neglected questions of justice, of finance, 
and of commerce in a way that may redound to the 
injury of his house. The excuse urged is that it was 
his deputies who were at fault. The answer to that 
is that he trusted too much to deputies and should not 
be excused for his confidence. A ruler ought to under- 
stand his business himself. 

"Also he had the vices of the flesh. He pleased his 
heart at the desire of his eyes. At the desire of 
his heart he multiplied his pleasures. His wishes 
were easy to attain. What he wanted was offered 
freely. He neglected the virtuous and holy lady his 
wife, a Christian saint, chaste and charitable. For 
this I offer no excuse. To God I leave the cause. 

"Another fault was that he was not wise in his 
treatment of his nobles. Especially in his old age 
he often preferred the less worthy, the less capable 
advisers. The answer to this charge is that, as his 
health failed, whoever was by his side obtained ascen- 
dency over him and succeeded in keeping the others 
at a distance. Ergo, theirs is the malice and the 
excuse is to the princely invalid. In his solitude 
even valets used their power, as is not wonderful. 

"He went late to mass and often out of hours. 
Sometimes he had it celebrated at two o'clock or even 
three, and in so doing he exceeded all Christian 
observance. For this there is no excuse that I dare 
allege. I leave it to the judgment of God. He had. 
indeed, obtained dispensation from the pope for 
causes which he explained, and he only is responsible. 
God alone can judge about him. 



The New Duke 165 

"It would be a dreadful shame if his soul suffered 
for this neglect in lifetime. Earth would not suffice 
to deplore, nor the nature of man to lament the perdi- 
tion of such a soul and of such a prince. Hell is not 
worthy of him nor good enough to lodge him. O 
God, who rescued Trajan from Hades for a single 
virtuous act, do not suffer this man to descend 
therein ! " 

Having thus tried his best to give a vivid de- 
scription of the father's personality, while ac- 
knowledging that he is not sure of the fate of 
his soul, the chronicler decides that it would be an 
excellent moment to paint the son, too, for all 
time, in view of his mortality. '' I will use the past 
tense so that my words may be good for always." 

Duke Charles was shorter and stouter than 
Duke Philip, but well formed, strong in arm and 
thigh. His shoulders were rather thick-set and 
a trifle stooping, but his body was well adapted 
to activity. The contour of his face was rounder 
than that of his father, his complexion brunette. 
His eyes were black and laughing, angelically 
clear. When he was sunk in thought it seemed as 
though his father looked out of them. Like his 
father's mouth was his, full and red. His nose 
was pronounced, his beard brown, and his hair 
black. His forehead was fine, his neck white 
and well set, though always bent as he walked. 
He certainly was not as straight as Philip, but 
nevertheless he was a fine prince with a fair outer 
man. 



1 66 Charles the Bold 

When he began to speak he often found diffi- 
culty in expressing himself, but once started his 
speech became fluent, even eloquent. His voice 
was fine and clear, but he could not sing, although 
he had studied the technique and was fond of 
music. In conversation he was more logical 
than his father, but very tenacious of his own 
opinion and vehement in its expression, although, 
at the bottom, he was just to all men. 

In council he was keen, subtle, and ready. He 
listened to others' arguments judicially and gave 
them due weight before his own concluded the 
discussion. He was attentive to his own business 
to a fault, for he was rather more industrious 
than became a prince. Economical of his own 
time, he demanded conscience of his subordinates 
and worked them very hard. He was fond of his 
servants and fairly affable, though occasionally 
sharp in his words. His memory was long and his 
anger dangerous. As a rule, good sense swayed 
him, but being naturally impetuous there was 
often a struggle between impulse and reason. 

He was a God-fearing prince, was devoted to the 
Virgin Mary, rigid in his fasts, lavish in charity. 
He was determined to avoid death and to hold 
on to his own, tooth and nail, and was his father's 
peer in valour. Like his father, he dressed 
richly; unlike him, he cared more for silver than 
for jewels. He lived more chastely than is usual 
to princes and was always master of himself. 
He drank little wine, though he liked it, because 



The New Duke 167 

he found that it engendered fever in him. His 
only beverage was water just coloured with wine. 
He was inclined to no indulgence or wantonness. 
"At the hour in which I write his taste for hard 
labour is excessive, but in other respects his good 
sense has dominated him, at least thus far. It is 
to be hoped that as his reign grows older he will 
curb his over-strenuous industry." 

As to the duke's sympathies, Chastellain regrets 
that circumstances have turned him towards 
England. Naturally he belonged to the French, 
and it was a pity that the machinations of the 
king, "whose crooked ways are well known to 
God, have forced him into self-defence. Yet on 
his forehead he wears the fieur-de-lys." 

Chastellain acknowledges that Charles is accused 
of avarice, but defends him on the ground that he 
has been driven into collecting a large army. "A 
penny in the chest is worth three in the purse of 
another." "To take precautions in advance is a 
way to save honour and property," prudently adds 
the historian, who evidently flourishes his maxims 
to strengthen his own appreciation of the duke's 
economy, which, quite as evidently, is not pleas- 
ing to him. " I have seen him the very opposite 
of miserly, open-handed and liberal, rejoicing in 
largesse. When he came into his seigniory his 
nature did not change." It was simply the exi- 
gencies of his critical position that forced him to 
restrain his natural propensities and thus to gain 
the undeserved reputation for parsimony. 



1 68 Charles the Bold 

It was also said that he was a very hard task- 
master, but as a matter of fact he demanded 
nothing of his soldiers that he was not ready to 
undertake himself. Like a true duke, he was 
his own commander, drew up his own troops 
himself in battle array, and then passed from 
one end of the line to the other, encouraging the 
men individually with cheery words, promising 
them glory and profit, and pledging himself to 
share their dangers. In victory he was restrained 
and showed more mercy than cruelty. 

After expatiating on the points where Charles 
was like his father — conventional princely qualities 
— Chastellain adds: "In some respects they dif- 
fered. The one was cold and the other boiling with 
ardour; the one slow and prone to delay, the other 
strenuous in his promptness; the elder negligent 
of his own concerns, the younger diligent and alert. 
They differed in the amount of time consumed 
at meals and in the number of guests whom they 
entertained. They differed more or less in their 
voluptuousness and in their expenditures and in 
the way in which they took solace and amusement. " 
But in all other respects, "in life they marched 
side by side as equals and if it please God He will 
be their conductor in glory everlasting" is the 
final assurance of their eulogist. 

Yet, lavish as the Burgundian poet is in his ad- 
jectives about his patron, there is considerable 
discrimination between his summaries of the two 
dukes. It is very evident that from his accession 



The New Duke 169 

Charles was less of a favourite than his father. 
While endeavouring to be as complimentary as 
possible, distrust of his capacities creeps out 
between the lines. Chastellain died in 1475, and 
thus never saw Charles's final disaster. But the 
violence of his character had inspired lack of con- 
fidence in his power of achievement, a violence 
that made people dislike him as Philip with all 
his faults was never disliked. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE UNJOYOUS ENTRY 
1467 

AFTER the dauphin was crowned at Rheims, 
he was monarch over all his domains. 
Charles of Burgundy, on the other hand, had a 
series of ceremonies to perform before he was pro- 
perly invested with the various titles worn by his 
father. Each duchy, countship, seigniory had to be 
taken in turn. Ghent was the first capital visited. 
Then he had to exchange pledges of fidelity with 
his Flemish subjects before receiving recognition 
as Count of Flanders. 

According to the custom of his predecessors, 
Charles stayed at the little village of Swynaerde, 
near Ghent, the night before he made his " joyous 
entry" into that city. It had chanced that the 
day selected by Charles for the event was St. 
Lievin's Day and a favourite holiday of the 
workers of Ghent. The saint's bones, enclosed 
conveniently in a portable shrine, rested in the 
cathedral church, whence they were carried once a 
year by the fifty-two gilds in solemn procession 
to the little village of Houthem, where the blessed 

170 



The Unjoyous Entry 171 

saint had suffered martyrdom in the seventh cent- 
ury. All day and all night the saint's devotees, 
the Fools of St. Lievin, as they were called, re- 
mained at this spot. Merry did the festival be- 
come as the hours wore on, for good cheer was 
carried thither as well as the sacred shrine. 

Now the magistrates were a little apprehen- 
sive about the rival claims of the new count of 
Flanders and the old saint of Ghent. They 
knew that they could not cut short the time- 
honoured celebration for the sake of the sover- 
eign's inauguration, so they decided to prolong 
the former, and directed that the saint should leave 
town on Saturday and not return until Monday. 
This left Sunday free for the young count's entry. 
It probably seemed a very convenient conjunction 
of events to the city fathers, because the more 
turbulent portion of the citizens was sure to fol- 
low the saint. 

Accordingly, Charles made a very quiet and 
dignified entrance, ^ having paused at the gates to 
listen to the fair words of Master Mathys de Groot- 
huse as he extolled the virtues of the late Count of 
Flanders, and requested God to receive the present 
one, when he, too, was forced to leave earth, as 
graciously as Ghent was receiving him that day. 
All passed well ; oaths of fealty were duly taken 
and given at the church of St. John the Baptist. 
Charles himself pulled the bell rope according 
to the ancient Flemish custom, and the Count of 

* Gachard, Doc. ined., i., 210, etc. 



172 Charles the Bold 

Flanders was in possession. This all took place in 
the morning of June 28th. At the close of the 
ceremonies Charles withdrew to his hotel and 
the magistrates to their dwellings. 

The devotees of St. Lievin prolonged their 
holiday until Monday afternoon. It was five 
o'clock 1 when the revellers returned to Ghent. 
Many of the saint's followers were, by that time, 
more or less under the influence of the contents 
of the casks which had formed part of the outward- 
bound burden. The protracted holiday-making 
had its natural sequence. There was, however, 
too much method in the next proceedings for it 
to be attributed wholly to emotional inebriety. 

The procession passed through the city gate 
and entered a narrow street near the com market, 
where stood a little house used as headquarters for 
the collection of the cueillotte, a tax on every article 
brought into the city for sale, and one particu- 
larly obnoxious to the people. Suddenly a cry 
was raised and echoed from rank to rank of St. 
Lievin's escort, "' Down with the cueillotte." 

Then with the ingenious humour of a Celtic 
crowd, quick to take a fantastic advantage of a 
situation, a second cry was heard: *'St. Lievin 
must go through the house. Lievin is a saint 
who never turns aside from his route." 

Delightful thought, followed by speedy action. 
Axes were produced and wielded to good effect. 

» Some authorities make this five a. m., but the Rapport 
is probably correct. 



The Unjoyous Entry 173 

Down came the miniature customs-house in a 
flash. Little pieces of the ruin were elevated on 
sticks and carried by some of the rabble as stand- 
ards with the cry "I have it — I have it." As 
they marched the procession was constantly aug- 
mented and the cries become more decidedly 
revolutionary: ''Kill, kill these craven spoilers 
of God and of the world. ^ Where are they? Let 
us seek them out and slay them in their houses, 
those who have flourished at our pitiable expense." 

This was rank rebellion. Even under cover of 
St. Lievin's mantle, resistance to regularly insti- 
tuted customs could hardly be described by any 
other name. Excited by their own temerity, 
the crowd now surged on to the great market- 
place in front of the Hotel de Ville, where the 
Friday market is held, instead of returning the saint 
promptly to his safe abiding-place as was meet. 

There the lawless deeds — lawless to the duke's 
mind certainly — ^became more audacious. Coun- 
terparts of the very banners whose prohibition 
had been part of the sentence in 1453 were dn- 
furled,2 and their possession alone proved insurrec- 
tionary premeditation on the part of the gild 
leaders. Ghent was in open revolt, and the 
young duke in their midst felt it was an open in- 
sult to him as sovereign count. 

His messenger failed to return from the market- 

1 Chastellain, v., 260 et passim. 

2 So say some historians. But it seems probable that the 
drapery of St. Lievin's shrine was hastily used as a flag. 



174 Charles the Bold 

place. His master became impatient and followed 
him to the scene of action with a small escort. As 
they drew near, the crowd thickened and hedged 
them in. The nobles became alarmed and urged 
the duke to return, but cries from the crowd 
promised safety to his person. To the steps of the 
Hotel de Ville rode the duke, his face dark,. men- 
acing with suppressed wrath. ^ 

As he dismounted, he turned towards a man 
whom he thought he saw egging on a disturbance 
and struck him with his riding whip, saying, " I 
know you." The man was quick enough to 
realise the value of the duke's violence at that 
moment and cried, "Strike again," but the Seig- 
neur Groothuse, who had already tried to check 
Charles's anger and to curb the popular turbu- 
lence, exclaimed, "For the love of God do not 
strike again!" The wiser burgher at once under- 
stood the unstable temper of the mob, which had 
been fairly civil to the duke up to this moment. 
There were ugly murmurs to be heard that the 
blow would cost him dear. 

"Indeed," says the courtly Chastellain, "the mis- 
chief was so imminent that God alone averted it, 
and there was not an archer or noble or man so full 
of assurance that he did not tremble with fear, nor 
one who would not have preferred to be in India 
for his own safety. Especially were they in terror 
for their young prince, who, they thought, was ex- 
posed to a dolorous death." 

* Chastellain, v., ch. 7, etc. 



The Unjoyous Entry 175 

It was Groothuse alone who averted disaster: 

"Do you not see that your hfe and ours hang on a 
silken thread? Do you think you can coerce a rabble 
like this by threats and hard words — a rabble who 
at this moment do not value you more than the least 
of us? They are beside themselves, they have nei- 
ther reason nor understanding.* ... If you 
are ready to die, I am not, except in spite of myself. 
You must try quite a different method — appease 
them by sweetness and save your house and your 
life. 

"What could you do alone? How the gods would 
laugh! Your courage is out of place here unless it 
enables you to calm yourself and give an example 
to those poor sheep, wretched misled people whom 
you must soothe. Go down in God's name. [They 
were within the town hall.] Show yourself and you 
will make an impression by your good sense and all 
will go well." 

To this eminently sound advice the young duke 
yielded. He appeared on a balcony or on the upper 
steps of the town hall and stood ready to harangue 
his unruly and turbulent subjects. A moment 
sufficed to still the turmoil and the silence showed 
a readiness to hear him speak. 

Charles was not perfectly at ease in Flemish, 
but he was wise enough to use that tongue. One 
trait of the Ghenters was respect for the person 
of their overlord. When that overlord showed 
any disposition to meet them half-way the response 

» These are Chastellain's words to be sure, but the sober 
Rapport is similar in purport. 



176 Charles the Bold 

was usually immediate. So it was now. The 
crowd which had been attending to St. Lievin, 
and not to the duke's joyous entry, suddenly re- 
membered that his welcome had been strangely 
ignored. Their grumblings changed to greetings. 
''Take heart, Monseigneur. Have no fear. For 
you we will live and die and hone shall be so 
audacious as to harm you. If there be evil fel- 
lows with no bump of reverence, endure it for the 
moment. Later you shall be avenged. No time 
now for fear.'* 

This sounded better. Charles was sufficiently 
appeased to address the crowd as " My children," 
and to assure them that if they would but meet 
him in peaceful conference, their grievances 
should be redressed. "Welcome, welcome! we 
are indeed your children and recognise your 
goodness." 

Then Groothuse followed with a longer speech 
than was possible either to Charles's Flemish or to 
his mood. This address was equally well received, 
and matters were in train for the appointment of 
a conference between popular representatives and 
the new Count of Flanders, when suddenly a tall, 
rude fellow climbed up to the balcony from the 
square. Using an iron gauntlet as a gavel to 
strike on the wall, he commanded attention and 
turned gravely to address the audience as though 
he were on the accredited list of speakers : 

" My brothers, down there assembled to set your 
complaints before your prince, your first wish — is 



The Unjoyous Entry 177 

it not ? — is to punish the ill governors of this town 
and those who have defrauded you and him alike." 
"Yes, yes," was the quick answer of the fickle 
crowd. — " You desire the suppression of the cueil- 
lotte, do you not?" — "Yes, yes." — "You want all 
your gates opened again, your banners restored, 
and your privileges reinforced as of yore? " — " Yes, 
yes." The self-appointed envoy turned calmly to 
Charles and said : 

" Monseigneur, this is what the citizens have 
come together to ask you. This is your task. I 
have said it in their behalf, and, as you hear, they 
make my words their own." 

Noteworthy is Chastellain's pious and horrified 
ejaculation over the extraordinary insolence of 
this big villain, who thus audaciously associated 
himself with his betters: "O glorious Majesty 
of God, think of such an outrageous and intoler- 
able piece of villainy being committed before the 
eyes of a prince! For a low man to venture to 
come and stand side by side with such a gentleman 
as our seigneur, and to proffer words inimical to 
his authority — ^words the poorest noble in the 
world would hardly have endured! And yet it 
was necessary for this noble prince to endure and 
to tolerate it for the moment, and needful that he 
should let pass as a pleasantry what was enough 
to kill him with grief." 

Groothuse's answer to the man was mild. 
Evidently he did not think it was a safe mo- 
ment to exasperate the mob : " ' My friend, there 



I j^ Charles the Bold 

was no necessity of your intruding up here, a 
place reserved for the prince and his nobles. 
From below, you could have been heard and 
Monseigneur could have answered you as well 
there as here. He requires no advocate to make 
him content his people. You are a strange master. 
Get down. Go down below and keep to your 
mates. Monseigneur will do right by every one.' 

* ' Off went the rascal and I do not know what 
became of him. The duke and his nobles were 
simply struck dumb by the scamp's outrage 
and his impudent daring." 

The sober report^ is less detailed and elaborate, 
but the thread is the same. Monseigneur, having 
returned to his hotel, sent Monseigneur de la 
Groothuse, Jean Petijtpas, and Richard Utenhove 
back to the market to invite the people to put 
their grievances in writing. A draft was made 
and carried to the duke. After he had examined 
it and discussed it with his council, he sent Mon- 
seigneur de la Groothuse back to the market- 
place to tell the people that he wanted to sleep 
on the proposition and would, give his answer 
at an early hour on the morrow. All through the 
night the people remained in arms on the market- 
place. At about eight o'clock on June 30th 
Groothuse returned, thanked the people in the 
count's name for having kept such good watch, 
and was answered by cries of "A has la cueillotte." 

Then he assured them that all was pardoned and 

» Gachard, Doc. ined., i., 212. 



The Unjoyous Entry 179 

that they should obtain what they had asked in 
the draft. Only he requested them to appoint 
a committee of six to present their demands to 
Monseigneur and then to go home. This they did. 
St. Lievin was restored to the church and his fol- 
lowers betook themselves to the gates specified 
in the treaty of Gaveren. These they broke 
down, and also destroyed another house where 
was a tax collector's office. 

''The report of these events carried to Mon- 
seigneur did not have a good effect upon his 
spirit. On the morrow Monseigneur quitted 
the city." The members of the corporation with 
the two deans and the popular committee of six 
having obtained audience before his departure, 
Groothuse acted as spokesman : " We implore 
you in all humility to pardon us for the insult 
you have suffered, and to sign the paper presented. 
The bad have had more authority than the good, 
which could not be prevented, but we know truly 
that if the draft is not signed they will kill us." 

It is evident in all this story that the munici- 
pal authorities were frightened to death and that 
Charles allowed himself to be restrained to an 
extraordinary extent considering the undoubted 
provocation. His reasons for conciliatory meas- 
ures were two, and literally were his ducats and 
his daughter. He had with him all the portable 
treasure and ready money that his father had had 
at Bruges, a large treasure and one on which he 
counted for his immediate military operations — 



i8o Charles the Bold 

operations very important to the position as a 
European power which he ardently desired to 
attain. 

Still more important was the fact that his young 
daughter, Mary, now eleven years old, was living 
in Ghent, to a certain degree the ward of the city. 
If the unruly majority should realise their strength 
what easier for them than to seize the treasure 
and hold the daughter as hostage, until her father 
had acceded to every demand, and until democ- 
racy was triumphant not only in Ghent but in the 
neighbouring cities? 

Charles simply did not dare attempt further 
coercion of the democratic spirit until he was 
beyond the walls. It is evident that he was 
completely taken by surprise at Ghent's attitude 
towards him, as the city had always professed 
great personal attachment to him. But there 
was a difference between being heir and sovereign. 
The agreement was signed, with a mental reserva- 
tion on the part of the Duke of Burgundy. He 
only intended to keep his pledge until he could see 
his way clear to make terms better to his liking. 

On Tuesday, June 30th, Charles left Ghent, taking 
his daughter and his treasure away, but a safe 
shelter for both was not easy to find. The duke's 
anticipations of the effect of Ghent's actions upon 
her neighbours were quickly proved to be no idle 
fears. There were revolts of more or less import- 
ance at Mechlin, at Antwerp, at Brussels, and 
other places. Moreover, there was serious discus- 



The Unjoyous Entry i8i 

sion in the estates assembled at Louvain as to 
whether Charles should be acknowledged as 
Duke of Brabant, or whether the claims of his 
cousin, the Count of Nevers, should be considered 
as heir to Philip's predecessor, for the late duke's 
title had never been considered perfect. 

Louis XL seized the opportunity to urge the pre- 
tensions of the latter, and there were many rea- 
sons to recommend him, in the estimation of the 
Brabanters, who saw advantage in having a 
sovereign exclusively their own, instead of one 
with the widespread geographical interests of the 
Burgundian family. The final decision was, how- 
ever, for Charles ; a notice of the resolution of the 
deputies was sent to him at Mechlin, and he made 
his formal "entry" into Louvain, where he re- 
ceived homage from the nobles, the good cities, 
and the university. 

The various insurgent manifestations were 
promptly quelled one after another, but, with 
a nature that neither forgot nor forgave, the 
duke was strongly impressed by them as personal 
insults. He blamed Ghent for their occurrence 
and deeply resented every one. Throughout 
Philip's whole career he remembered the localised 
tenure of his titles and the fact that they were not 
perfectly incontestable. For his own advantage 
he often found a conciliatory attitude the best 
policy. Charles considered all his rights heaven- 
born. Questioning his authority was rank rebel- 
lion. That he had accepted advice in regard to 



1 82 Charles the Bold 

Ghent, and had been ruled by expediency for the 
nonce, did not mitigate his intense bitterness. 

In another town that gave him serious trouble 
at this time, nothing led him to curb the severity 
of his measures. Though only a "protector," 
not an overlord, when he suppressed a rebellion 
in Liege he rigorously exacted the most complete 
and humiliating penalties. The city charters were 
abrogated, all privileges were forfeited. As an 
unprotected village must Liege stand henceforth, 
walls and fortifications rased to the ground. 

"The perron on the market-place of the said town 
shall be taken down, and then Monseigneur the duke 
shall treat it according to his pleasure. The city 
may not remake the said perron, nor replace another 
like it in the market-place or elsewhere in the city. 
Nor shall the said perron appear in the coat-of-arms 
of Liege." * 

This was a terrible indignity for the city and a 
clear proof of their fear of their bishop's friend. 

The episode impressed the citizens of Ghent 
with the duke's power, and made the more timor- 
ous anxious to erase the event of 1467 from his 
mind. The peace party finally prevailed in their 
arguments, but the scene of abnegation and 
self-humiliation crowning their apology was not 
enacted until eighteen months after the events 
apologised for, when the new duke had still further 
proven his metal. 

1 Gachard. Doc. ined., ii., 462, ''Instrument notarie." 



CHAPTER X 

THE duke's marriage 
1468 

FOR many months before Philip's death there 
had been negotiations concerning Charles's 
marriage with Margaret of York. Always feeling 
a closer bond with his mother than with his father, 
Charles's sympathy had ever been towards the 
Lancastrian party in England, the family to whom 
Isabella of Portugal was closely related. Only 
the necessity for making a strong alliance against 
Louis XL turned him to seek a bride from the 
House of York. It was on this business that La 
Marche and the great Bastard were engaged 
when Philip's death interrupted the discussion, 
which Charles did not immediately resume on his 
own behalf. 

Pending the final decision in regard to this 
important indication of his international policy, 
the duke busied himself with the adjustment of 
his court, there being many points in which he did 
not intend to follow his father's usage. ^ Philip's 
lavishness, without too close a query as to the 
disposition of every penny, was naturally very 
agreeable to his courtiers. There was a liberal 
air about his households. It was easy to come and 

1 Chastellain, v., 570. 

183 



1 84 Charles the Bold 

go, and it was pleasant to have the handHng 
of money and the giving of orders — orders which 
were fulfilled and richly paid without haggling. 
Charles had other notions. He was willing to pay, 
but he wanted to be sure of an adequate re- 
turn. How he started in on his administration 
with reform ideas is delightfully told by Chas- 
tellain.^ 

One of his first measures when he was finally 
established at Brussels was to secure more speedy 
execution of justice. He appointed a new provost, 
** a dangerous varlet of low estate, but excellently 
fitted to carry out perilous work." Then he deter- 
mined to settle petty civil suits himself, as there 
were many which had dragged on for a long time. 
In order to do this and to receive complaints 
from poor people, he arranged to give audience 
three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and 
Friday, after dinner. On these occasions he re- 
quired the attendance of all his nobles, seated 
before him on benches, each according to his 
rank. Excuses were not pleasantly accepted, so 
that few places were empty. Charles himself 
was elevated on a high throne covered with cloth 
of gold, whence he pompously pronounced judg- 
ments and heard and answered petitions, a pro- 
cess that sometimes lasted two or three hours 
and was exceedingly tiresome to the onlookers. 

"In outer appearance it seemed a magnificent 
course of action and very praiseworthy. But in 



The Duke's Marriage 185 

my time I have never heard of nor seen lilie action 
taken by prince or king, nor any proceedings in the 
least similar. 

''When the duke went through the city from 
place to place and from church to church, it was 
wonderful how much state and order was main- 
tained and what a grand escort he had. Never a 
knight so old or so young who dared absent himself 
and never a squire was bold enough to squeeze 
himself into the knights' places." 

At the levee, the same rigid ceremony was 
observed. Every one had to wait his turn in 
his proper room — ^the squires in the first, the 
knights in the second, and so on. All left the pal- 
ace together to go to mass. As soon as the 
offering was made all the nobles were free to dine, 
but they were obliged to report themselves to the 
duke immediately after his repast. Any failure 
caused the forfeiture of the fee for the day. It 
was all very orderly and very dull. 

Thus Charles of Burgundy felt that he was law- 
giver, paternal guide, philosopher, and friend to his 
people. From time to time he delivered harangues 
to his court, veritable sermons. He obtained hear- 
ing, but certainly did not win popularity. The 
adulatory phrases used as mere conventionalities 
seemed to have actually turned his head. And 
those stock phrases were very grandiloquent. 
There is no doubt that such comparisons were 
used as Chastellain puts into the mouths of the 
first deputation from Ghent to ask pardon for the 



1 86 Charles the Bold 

sins committed at the dolorous un joyous entry 
into the Flemish capital.^ 

"My very excellent seigneur, when you who hold 
double place, place of God and place of man, and have 
in yourself the double nature by office and commission 
in divine estate, and as your noble discretion knows 
and is cognisant, like God the Father, Creator, of all 
offences committed against you, and who may be 
appeased by tears and by weeping as He permits 
Himself to be softened by contrition, entreaties, etc., 
and resumes His natural benignity by forgetting 
things past [etc.]. . . . Alas, what kindness 
did He use toward Adam, His first offender, upon 
whom through his son Seth He poured the oil of pity 
in five thousand future years, and then to Cain the 
first born of mother He postponed vengeance for his 
crime for ten generations etc. What did he do in 
Abraham's time, when He sent word to Lot that if 
there were ten righteous men in Sodom and Gomorrah 
He would remit the judgment on the two cities? In 
Ghent," etc.^ 

1 This deputation was composed of representatives from 
' ' all the city in its entirety in three chief members — the 
bourgeois and nobles, the fifty-two metiers, and the weavers 
who possess twelve different places in the city entirely for 
themselves and in their control.". The formal apology was 
made later. (Chastellain, v., 291.) 

2 Ihid 306. By letters patent given on July 28, 1467, Duke 
Charles pardoned the Ghenters and confirmed the privileges 
which he had conceded to them, but he exacted that a dep- 
utation from the three members [Trots membres] of the city 
should come to Brussels to beg pardon on their knees, bare- 
headed, ungirded, for all the disorder of St. Lievin. This act 
of submission took place probably not until January, 1469, 
though August 8, 1468, is also mentioned as the date. 



The Duke's Marriage 187 

In the chancellor's answer to this plea, the 
duke's consent to grant forgiveness to Ghent is 
again compared to God's own mercy. The di- 
vine attributes were referred to again and again, 
not only on the pages of contemporaneous chroni- 
clers who may be accused of desiring ducal patron- 
age, but also in sober state papers. 

There was one antidote to this homage uni- 
versally offered to Charles wherever there was no 
rebellion against him. One of the rules of the 
Order of the Golden Fleece was that all alike 
should be subject to criticism by their fellows. In 
May, 1468, at Bruges, Charles held an assembly 
of the Order, the first over which he had presided. 
It was a fitting opportunity for the knights to 
express their sentiments. When it came to his 
turn to be reviewed, Charles listened quietly to 
the representations that his conduct fell short of 
the ideals of chivalry because he was too econom- 
ical, too industrious, too strenuous, and not suffi- 
ciently cognisant of the merits of his faithful 
subjects of high degrees.^ 

In these plaints, respectful as they are, there 
is perhaps a note of regret for the lavish and amus- 
ing good cheer of the late duke's times. Charles 
was undoubtedly husbanding his resources at 
this period. The vision of wide dominions was 
already in his dreams, and he was prudent enough 
to begin his preparations. And prudence is not 
a popular quality. Still his courtiers were not 

1 Hist, de VOrdre, etc., p. 511. 



1 88 Charles the Bold 

quite bereft of the gorgeous and spectacular en- 
tertainments to which the "good duke" had ac- 
customed them. Soon after the assembly of the 
Order, the alliance between Duke Charles and 
Margaret of York was celebrated at Bruges. Our 
Burgundian Chastellain is not pleased with this 
marriage. That Charles inclined towards Eng- 
land at all was due to the French king, whom 
both he and his father had found untrustworthy. 
Again, had there been any other eligible partie in 
England Charles would never have allied himself 
with King Edward when all his sympathies were 
with the blood of Lancaster. But when King 
Louis forsook his cousin Margaret of Anjou, whose 
woes should have commanded pity, simply for the 
purpose of undermining the Duke of Burgundy, 
the latter felt it wise to make Edward his friend. 

"That it was sore against his inclination he con- 
fessed to one who later revealed it to me, but he 
decided that it was better to injure another rather 
than be down- trodden and injured himself.* 

"For a long time there had been little love lost 
between him and the king. The monarch feared the 
pride and haughtiness of his subject, and the subject 
feared the strength and profound subtilty of the 
king who wanted, he thought, to get him under the 
whip. And all this, alas, was the result of that 
cursed War of Public Weal cooked up by the French 
against their own king. When Charles was deeply 
involved in it he was deserted by the others and the 
whole weight of the burden fell on his shoulders, so 

1 Chastellain, v., 342. 




CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, PRESIDING OVER A CHAPTER OF THE 

GOLDEN FLEECE 
FROM CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE REPRODUCED IN LENGLET DU FRESNOY EDITION OF 

COMINES 



The Duke's Marriage 189 

that he alone was blamed by the king, and he alone 
was forced to look to his own safety and comfort. It 
is a pity when such things occur in a realm and 
among kinsfolk." 

Louis was busied with his own affairs in Tou- 
raine when news came to him that the marriage 
was to take place immediately. " If he mourned, 
it is not marvellous when I myself mourn it for the 
future result. But the king used all kinds of 
machinations to break off the alliance. . . . 
God suffered two young proud princes to try 
their strength each at his will, often in ways that 
would have been incompatible in common affairs." 

The fullest account of the wedding is given 
by La Marche, an eyewitness of the event ^ : 

"Gilles du Mas, maitre d'hotel du Due de Bre- 
tagne — to you I recommend myself. I have collected 
here roughly according to my stupid understanding 
what I saw of the said festival, to send it to you, 
beseeching you as earnestly as I can to advise me 
of the noble states and high deeds in your quarter 
. as becomes two friends of one rank and 
calling in two fraternal, allied and friendly houses. 

"My lady and her company arrived at I'Ecluse 
on a Saturday, June 25th, and on the morrow 
Madame the Duchess of Burgundy, mother of the 
duke. Mile, of Burgundy and various other ladies 
and demoiselles visited Madame Margaret ^ and only 

iIII., 10 1. Evidently this was composed for a separate 
work and then incorporated into the memoirs. 

2 There is a beautiful portrait of her in MS. 9275 in the 
Bibliotheque de Burgogne. See also Wavrin, Anchiennes 
Croniques d'Engleterre, ii., 368. 



190 Charles the Bold 

stayed till dinner. The duchess was greatly pleased 
with her prospective daughter-in-law and could not 
say enough of her character and her virtues. There 
remained with Dame Margaret, on the part of the 
duchess, the Charnys, Messire Jehan de Rubempre 
and various other ladies and gentlemen to act the 
hosts to the strange ladies and gentlemen who had 
crossed from England with the bride. The Count 
and Countess de Charny met Madame as she disem- 
barked and never budged from her side until she 
had arrived at Bruges. 

"The day after the duchess's visit, Monseigneur 
of Burgundy made his way to I'Ecluse with a small 
escort and entered the chateau at the rear. After 
supper, accompanied only by six or seven knights 
of the Order, he went very secretly to the hotel of 
Dame Margaret, who had been warned of his intention, 
and was attended by the most important members 
of her suite, such as the Seigneur d'Escalles, the king's 
brother. 

"At his arrival when they saw each other the 
greetings were very ceremonious and then the two 
sat down on one bench and chatted comfortably 
together for some time. After some conversation, 
the Bishop of Salisbury, according to a prearranged 
plan of his own, kneeled before the two and made 
complimentary speeches. He was followed by M. 
de Charny, who spoke as follows: 

" ' Monseigneur, you have found what you desired 
and since God has brought this noble lady to port in 
safety and to your desire, it seems to me that you 
should not depart without proving the affection you 
bear her, and that you ought to be betrothed now 
at this moment and give her your troth.' 



The Duke's Marriage 191 

"Monseigneur answered that it did not depend 
upon him. Then the bishop spoke to Margaret and 
asked her what she thought. She answered that it 
was just for this and nothing else that the king of 
England had sent her over and she was quite ready 
to fulfil the king's command. Whereupon the 
bishop took their hands and betrothed them. Then 
Monseigneur departed and returned on the morrow 
to Bruges. 

"Dame Margaret remained at TEcluse until the 
following Saturday and was again visited by Mon- 
seigneur. On Saturday the boats were richly deco- 
rated to conduct my lady to Damme, where she was 
received very honourably according to the capacity 
of that little town. On the morrow, the 3rd of July, 
Monseigneur the duke set out with a small escort 
between four and five o'clock in the morning, and 
went to Damme, where he found Madame quite ready 
to receive him as all had been prearranged, and 
Monseigneur wedded her as was suitable, and the 
nuptial benediction was duly pronounced by the 
Bishop of Salisbury. After the mass, Charles re- 
turned to his hotel at Bruges, and you may believe 
that during the progress of the other ceremonies 
he slept as if he were to be on watch on the following 
night. 

"Immediately after, Adolph of Cleves, John of 
Luxemburg, John of Nassau, and others returned to 
Damme and paid their homage to the new duchess, 
and then my lady entered a horse litter, beautifully 
draped with cloth of gold. She was clad in white 
cloth of gold made like a wedding garment as was 
proper. On her hair rested a crown and her other 
jewels were appropriate and sumptuous. Her English 



iQ^ Charles the Bold 

ladies followed her on thirteen hackneys, two close by 
her litter and the others behind. Five chariots fol- 
lowed the thirteen hackneys, the Duchess of Norfolk, 
the most beautiful woman in England, being in the 
first. In this array Madame proceeded to Bruges and 
entered at the gate called Ste. Croix." 

There were too many names to be enumerated, 
but La Marche cannot forbear mentioning a noble 
Zealander, Adrian of Borselen, Seigneur of Breda, 
who had six horses covered with cloth of gold, 
jewelry, and silk. 

"I mention him for two reasons [he explains^]: 
first, that he was the rnost brilliant in the procession, 
and the second is that by the will of God he died on 
the Wednesday from a trouble in his leg, which was 
a pity and much regretted by the nobility. 

"The procession from Ste. Croix to the palace 
was magnificent, with all the dignitaries in their 
order. So costly were the dresses of the ducal house- 
hold that Charles expended more than forty thousand 
francs for cloth of silk and of wool alone. 

"Prominent in this stately procession were the 
nations or foreign merchants in this order : Venetians, 
Florentines — at the head of the latter marched 
Thomas Portinari, banker and councillor of the duke 
at the same time that he was chief of their nation 
and therefore dressed in their garb ; Spaniards ; Geno- 
ese — ^these latter showed a mystery, a beautiful girl on 
horseback guarded by St. George from the dragon. — • 
Then came the Osterlings, io8 on horseback, followed 
by six pages, all clad in violet. 

» III., io8. 



The Duke's Marriage 193 

"Gay, too, was Bruges and the streets were all 
decorated with cloth of gold and silk and tapestries. 
As to the theatrical representations I can remember 
at least ten. There were Adam and Eve, Cleopatra 
married to King Alexander, and various others. 

"The reception at the palace was very formal. 
The dowager duchess herself received her daughter- 
in-law from the litter and escorted her by the hand 
to her chamber, and for the present we will leave 
the ladies and the knighthood and turn to the arrange- 
ment of the hotel. 

"In regard to the service, Mme. the new duchess 
was served d'eschangon et d'escuyer tranchant et de 
pannetier. All English, all knights and gentlemen 
of great houses, and the chief steward cried * Knights 
to table,' and then they went to the buffet to get the 
food, and around the buffet marched all the relations 
of Monseigneur, all the knights of the Order and of 
great houses. And for that day Mme. the duchess 
the mother declined to be served a convert but left the 
honour to her daughter-in-law as was right. 

"After dinner the ladies retired to their rooms 
for a little rest and there were some changes of dress. 
Then they all mounted their chariots and hackneys 
and issued forth on the streets in great triumph and 
wonderful were the jousts of the Tree of Gold. Sev- 
eral days of festivity followed when the usual panto- 
mimes and shows were in evidence. 

"Tuesday, the tenth and last day of the fete, the 
grand salle was arranged in the same state as on the 
wedding day itself, except the grand buffet which 
stood in the middle of the hall. This banquet, too, 
was a grand affair and concluded the festivities. 
13 



194 Charles the Bold 

On the morrow, Wednesday, July 15th, Monseigneur 
departed for Holland on a pressing piece of business, 
and he took leave of the Duchess of Norfolk and the 
other lords and ladies of quality and gave them gifts 
each according to his rank. Thus ends the story 
of this noble festival, and for the present I know 
nothing worth writing you except that I am yours." 

To this may be added the letter of one of the 
Paston family who was in Margaret's train. ^ 

''John Paston the younger to Margaret Paston: 

"To my ryght reverend and worchepfull Modyr 
Margaret Paston dwelling at Caster, be thys delyv- 
eryed in hast. 

"Ryth reverend & worchepfull Modyr, I recom- 
mend me on to you as humbylly as I can thynk, 
desyryng most hertly to her of your welfare & hertsese 
whyche I pray God send you as hastyly as my hert 
can thynk. Pies yt you to wete that at the makyng 
of thys byll my brodyr & I & all our felawshep wer 
in good helle, blyssyd be God. 

"As for the gydyn her in thys countre it is as 
worchepfull as all the world can devyse it, & ther wer 
never Englyshe men had so good cher owt of Inglong 
that ever I herd of. 

"As for tydyngs her but if it be of the fest I can 
non send yow ; savyng my Lady Margaret was mary ed 
on Sonday last past at a town that is called Dame iij 
myle owt of Brugge at v of the clok in the morning; 
& sche was browt the same day to Bruggys to hyr 
dener; & ther sche was receyvyd as worchepfully 
as all the world cowd devyse as with presession with 
ladys and lordys best beseyn of eny pepell that ever 

* The Paston Letters, ii., 317. 



The Duke's Marriage 195 

I sye or herd of. Many pagentys were pleyed in 
hyr way to Brugys to hyr welcoming, the best that 
ever I sye. And the same Sonday my Lord the Bas- 
tard took upon hym to answere xxiiij knyts & gentyl- 
men within viij dayis at jostys of pese & when that 
they wer answered, they xxiiij & hymselve shold 
torney with other xxv the next day after, whyche is on 
Monday next comyng; & they that have jostyd with 
hym into thys day have been as rychly beseyn, 
& hymselfe also, as clothe of gold & sylk & sylvyr & 
goldsmith's werk might mak hem; for of syche ger & 
gold & perle & stonys they of the dukys coort neyther 
gentylmen nor gentylwomen they want non ; for with 
owt that they have it by wyshys, by my trowthe, 
I herd nevyr of so gret plente as ther is. 



And as for the Dwkys coort, as of lords & ladys & 
gentylwomen knyts, sqwyers & gentylmen I hert 
never of non lyek to it save King Artourys cort. 
And by my trowthe I have no wyt nor remembrance 
to wryte to you half the worchep that is her; but 
that lakyth as it comyth to mynd I shall tell you 
when I come home whyche I trust to God shal not be 
long to; for we depart owt of Brygge homward on 
Twysday next comyng & all folk that cam with my 
lady of Burgoyn out of Ingland, except syche as 
shall abyd her styll with hyr whyche I wot well 
shall be but fewe. 

"We depart the sooner for the Dwk hathe word that 
the Frenshe king is purposyd to mak wer upon hym 
hastyly & that he is with in iiij or v dayis jorney of 
Brugys & the Dwk rydeth on Twysday next comyng 
forward to met with hym, God geve hym good sped 



196 Charles the Bold 

& all hys; for by my trowthe they are the goodlyest 
felawshep that ever I cam among & best can be- 
have themselves & most like gentlemen. 

** Other tydyngs have we non her; but that the 
Duke of Somerset & all hys band departyd well 
beseyn out of Brugys a day befor that my Lady the 
Duchess cam thedyr & they sey her that he is to 
Queen Margaret that was & shal no more come 
her agen nor be holpyn by the Duke. No more ; but 
I beseche you of youf blessyng as lowly as I can, 
wyche I beseche you forget not to geve me everday 
onys. And, Modyr, I beseche you that ye wol be good 
mastras to my lytyll man & to se that he go to scole. 

Wreten at Bruggys the Friday next after Seynt 
Thomas. 

"Your sone & humbyll ser vaunt, 

"J. Paston the younger." 



CHAPTER XI 

THE MEETING AT PERONNE 
1468 

"JVyiY brother, I beseech you in the name of our 
i V 1 affection and of our alHance, come to my aid, 
come as speedily as you can, come without delay. 
Written by the own hand of your brother. 

"Francis." 

Such were the concluding sentences of a fervent 
appeal from the Duke of Brittany that followed 
Charles into Holland, whither he had hastened 
after the completion of the nuptial festivities. 

The titular Duke of Normandy found that his 
royal brother was in no wise inclined to fulfil 
the solemn pledges made at Conflans. His ally, 
Francis, Duke of Brittany, was plunged into ter- 
ror lest the king should invade his duchy and 
punish him for his share in the proceedings that 
had led up to that compact. 

It is in this year that Louis XL begins to show 
his real astuteness. Very clever are his methods 
of freeing himself from the distasteful obligations 
assumed towards his brother. They had been 
easy to make when a hostile army was encamped 
at the gates of Paris. Then Normandy weighed 
lightly when balanced by the desire to separate 

197 



198 Charles the Bold 

the allies. That separation accomplished, the 
point of view changed. Relinquish Normandy, 
restored by the hand of heaven to its natural liege 
lord after its long retention by the English kings? 
Louis's intention gradually became plain and he 
proved that he was no longer in the isolated 
position in which the War for Public Weal had 
found him. He had won to himself many ad- 
herents, while the general tone towards Charles of 
Burgundy had changed. ^ 

In April, 1468, the States-General of France 
assembled at Tours in response to royal writs is- 
sued in the preceding February. 2 The chancellor, 
Jouvengal, opened the session with a tedious, long- 
winded harangue calculated to weary rather than 
to illuminate the assembly. Then the king took 
the floor and delivered a telling speech. With tren- 
chant and well chosen phrases he set forth the rea- 
sons why Normandy ought to be an intrinsic part of 
the French realm. The advantages of centralisa- 
tion, the weakness of decentralisation, were skil- 
fully drawn. The matter was one affecting the 
kingdom as a whole, in perpetuity; it was not for 
the temporal interests of the present incumbent 

» See Lavisse iv" .,356. 

2 The letters of convocation bear the date February 26, 
1467, o.s. Tournay elected four deputies. By April 30th, 
they had returned home, and on May 2d they made a 
report. The items of expenditure are very exact. So hard 
had they ridden that a fine horse costing eleven crowns was 
used up and was sold for four crowns. M. Van der Broeck, 
archivist of Tournay, extracted various items from the register 
of the Council. See Kervyn's note. Chastellain, v., 387. 



The Meeting at Peronne 199 

of regal authority, who had only part therein for 
the brief space of his mortal journey. Louis's 
words are pathetic indeed, as he calls himself a 
sojourner in France, en voyage through life, as 
though the fact itself of his likeness to the rest of 
ephemeral mankind was novel to his audience. 
He reiterated the statement that the interests 
involved were theirs, not his. 

It was a goodly body which listened to Louis. 
The greatest feudal lords, indeed, were not present, 
but many of the lesser nobility were, while sixty- 
four towns sent, all told, about 128 deputies. 
These hearers gave willing attention to the thesis 
that it was a burning shame for the French people 
to pay heavy taxes simply to restrain the insolent 
peers from rebelling against their sovereign — those 
noble scions of the royal stock whose bounden 
duty it was to protect the state and the head of the 
royal house. 

What was the reason for their selfish insubor- 
dination? The root of the evil lay in the past, 
when extensive territories had been carelessly 
alienated, and their petty over-lords permitted 
to acquire too much independence of the crown, 
so that the monarchy was threatened with dis- 
ruption. There was more to the same purpose 
and then the deputies deliberated on the answer 
to make to this speech from the throne. It was 
an answer to Louis's mind, an answer that showed 
the value of suggestion. Charles the Wise had 
thought that an estate yielding an income of 



200 Charles the Bold 

twelve thousand livres was all-sufficient for a 
prince of the blood. Louis XI. was more gener- 
ous. He was ready to allow his brother Charles 
a pension of sixty thousand livres. But as to 
the government of Normandy — why! no king, 
either from fraternal affection or from fear of 
war, was justified in committing that province 
to other hands than his own. 

The States-General dissolved in perfect accord 
with the monarch, and a definite order was left 
in the king's hands, declaring that it was the 
judgment of the towns represented that concen- 
tration of power was necessary for the common 
welfare of France. Public opinion declared that 
national weakness would be inevitable if the feuda- 
tories were unbridled in their centrifugal tendencies. 
Above all, Normandy must be retained by the 
king. On no consideration should Louis leave it 
to his brother. ^ 

Before the dissolution of the assembly there 
was some discussion as to the probable attitude 
of the great nobles in regard to this platform of 
centralisation. Very timid were the comments on 
Charles of Burgundy. Would he not perhaps be 
an excellent mediator between the lesser dukes 
and the king? Would it not be better to suspend 
action until his opinion was known, etc? But at 
large there was less reserve. The statements 
were emphatic. Naught but mischief had ever 
come to France from Burgundy. The present 

» See Lavisse iv" ., 356. 



The Meeting at Peronne 201 

duke's father and grandfather had wrought all 
the ill that lay in their power. As for Charles, 
his illimitable greed was notorious. Let him rest 
content with his paternal heritage. Ghent and 
Bruges were his. Did he want Paris too? Let 
the king recover the towns on the Somme. 
Rightfully they were French. Louis made no 
scruple in pleading the invalidity of the treaty of 
Conflans, because it had been wrested from him by 
undue influence. And this royal sentiment was 
repeated here and there with growing conviction 
of its justice. 

While Charles was occupied with the preparation 
for his wedding, Louis was engaged in levying 
troops and mobilising his forces, and these pre- 
parations continued throughout the summer of 
1468. Naturally, news of this zeal directed against 
the dukes of Normandy and of Brittany followed 
the traveller in Holland. 

Charles was in high dudgeon and wrote at once 
to the king, reminding him that these seigneurs 
were his allies, and demanding that nothing should 
be wrought to their detriment. Conscious that his 
remonstrance might be futile, and urged on by 
appeals from the dukes, Charles hastened to cut 
short his stay in Holland so that he might move 
nearer to the scene of Louis's activities. His pur- 
pose in going to the north had been twofold — to 
receive homage as Count of Holland and Zealand, 
and to use his new dignity to obtain large sums of 
money for which he saw immediate need if he 



202 Charles the Bold 

were to hold Louis to the terms wrested from 
him. 

In early July, Charles had crossed from Sluis in 
Flanders to Middelburg, and thence made his pro- 
gress through the cities of Zealand, receiving hom- 
age as he went. Next he passed to The Hague, 
where the nobles and civic deputies of Holland 
met him and gave him their oaths of fealty on 
July 2 1 St. Fifty-six towns ^ were represented 
and there were also deputies from eight bailiwicks 
and the islands of Texel and Wieringen. "It 
is noteworthy," comments a Dutch historian, 
"that the people's oath was given first. The 
older custom was that the count should give the 
first pledge while the people followed suit." 

As soon as he was thus legally invested with 
sovereign power, Charles demanded a large aide 
from Holland and Zealand — 480,000 crowns of 
fifteen stivers for himself; 32,000 crowns as pin 
money for his new consort; 16,000 crowns as dona- 
tions for various servants, and 480c crowns to- 
wards his travelling expenses. The total sum was 
532,800 crowns. The share of Holland and West 
Friesland was 372,800 crowns, and of Zealand 
16,000 crowns, to be paid within seven and a half 
years. In Holland, Haarlem paid the heaviest 
quota, 3549 crowns, and Schiedam the smallest. 
350 crowns, while Dordrecht and the South Hol- 

» Dordrecht was not among them. Her deputies held that 
it was illegal for them to go to The Hague. Some time later 
Charles received the oaths at Dordrecht. (Wagenaar, Vader- 
landsche Hist.,iv., loi.) 



The Meeting at Peronne 203 

land villages were assessed at 39,200 crowns, and 
the remainder was divided among the other cities 
and villages. 

There was considerable opposition to the assess- 
ments. In many cases the new imposts upon pro- 
visions pressed very heavily on the poor villagers. 
Having obtained promise of the grant, however, 
Charles left all further details in its regard to 
the local officials and returned to Brussels at the 
beginning of August to make his own preparation. 
For, by that time, Louis's intentions of evading the 
treaty of Conflans were plain, though there still 
fluttered a thin veil of friendship between the 
cousins. Gathering what forces he could mobilise, 
ordering them to meet him later, Charles moved 
westward and took up his quarters at Peronne on 
the river Somme. 

Louis had been bold in his utterance to the 
States-General as to his perfect right to ignore the 
treaty of Conflans, to dispossess his brother, and 
to bring the great feudatories to terms. In the 
summer of 1468 he made advances towards accom- 
plishing the last-named desideratum. Brittany 
was invaded by royal troops, but his victory was 
diplomatic rather than military, as Duke Francis 
peaceably consented to renounce his close alli- 
ances with Burgundy and England, nominally at 
least. Further, he agreed to urge Charles of France 
to submit his claims to Normandy to the arbitration 
of Nicholas of Calabria and the Constable St. Pol. ^ 

1 Treaty of Ancenis, September lo, 1468. See Lavisse, iv". 



204 Charles the Bold 

Charles of Burgundy remained to be settled with 
on some different basis. And in regard to him 
Louis XI. took a resolve which terrified his 
friends and caused the world to wonder as to his 
sanity. All previous attempts at mediation hav- 
ing failed — St. Pol was among the many who 
tried — the king determined to be his own messen- 
ger to parley with his Burgundian cousin. It is 
curious how small was his measure of personal 
pride. He had been negligent of his personal 
safety at Confians, but even then Charles had 
better reason to respect and protect him than in 
1468, after Louis had manoeuvred for three years 
in every direction to harass and undermine the 
young duke's power, and when, too, the latter was 
aware of half of the machinations and suspicious 
of more. 

Yet Louis's famous visit to Peronne was no sud- 
den hare-brained enterprise. There is much evi- 
dence that he nursed the project for many weeks 
without giving any intimation of his intentions. 
Nor was the situation as strange as it appears, 
looking backward. 

Charles had doubtless made all preparations 
to combat Louis if need were, and had chosen 
Peronne for his headquarters with the express 
purpose of being able to watch France, and, at the 
same time, he had published abroad that his mili- 
tary preparations were solely for the purpose of 



One of the results of the War of Pubhc Weal was that St. Pol 
was appointed constable of France. 



The Meeting at Peronne 205 

keeping his obligations to his aP es. Now these 
obHgations were momentarily re aoved by the ac- 
tion of those same allies. Francis of Brittany had 
entered into amicable relations with his sovereign, 
young Charles of France had accepted arbitration 
to settle the fraternal relations of the royal brothers, 
while the correspondence between Louis and Liege, 
was still unknown to the Duke of Burgundy. 
For the moment, the latter, therefore, had no defi- 
nite quarrel with the French king. But he was 
not in the least anxious for an interview with him. 
Charles was as far as ever from understanding 
his cousin. Even without definite knowledge of 
Louis's efforts to make friends in the Netherlands, 
Charles suspected enough to turn his youthful dis- 
trust of the man's character into mature convic- 
tion that friendship between them was impossible. 
But he could not refuse the royal overtures. His 
letter of safe-conduct to his self-invited visitor 
bears the date of October 8th, and runs as follows :^ 

"Monseigneur: 

" I commend myself to your good graces. Sire, if it 
be your desire to come to this city of Peronne in order 
that we may talk together, I swear and I promise 
you by my faith and on my honour that you may come, 
remain and return in safety to Chauny or Noyon, 
according to your pleasure and as often as it shall 
please you, freely and openly without any hindrance 
offered either to you or to any of your people by me 

» The original is in the Mss. de Baluze, Paris, Bibl. Nat.j 
Lenglet, iii., 19. 



2o6 Charles the Bold 

or by any other for any cause that now exists or that 
may hereafter arise." 

Guillaume de Biche acted as confidential mes- 
senger between duke and king. He it was whom 
Charles had dismissed from his own service in 1456 
at his father's instance. From that time on the 
man had been in Louis's household, deep in his se- 
crets it was said, and certainly admitted to his 
privacy to an extraordinary degree. This letter 
was written by Charles in the presence of Biche, 
through whose hand it passed directly to the 
king. 

By October, Louis was at Ham, prepared to 
move as soon as the safe-conduct arrived. No 
time was lost after its receipt. On Sunday, Octo- 
ber 9th, the king started out, accompanied by the 
Bishop of Avranches, his confessor, by the Duke 
of Bourbon, Cardinal Balue, St. Pol, a few more 
nobles, and about eighty archers of the Scottish 
guard. As he rode towards Peronne, Philip of 
Crevecoeur, with two hundred lances, met him on 
the way to act as his escort to the presence of 
the duke, who awaited his guest on the banks of 
a stream a short distance out of Peronne. 

St. Pol was the first of the royal party to meet the 
duke as herald of Louis's approach. Then Charles 
rode forward to greet the traveller. As he came 
within sight of his cousin, he bowed low to his 
saddle and was about to dismount when Louis, his 
head bared, prevented his action. Fervent were 
the kisses pressed by the kingly lips upon the 



The Meeting at Peronne 207 

duke's cheeks, while Louis's arm rested lovingly 
about the latter's neck. Then he turned gra- 
ciously to the by-standing nobles and greeted 
them by name. But his cousinly affection was 
not yet satisfied. Again he embraced Charles and 
held him half as long as before in his arms. 
How pleasant he was and how full of confidence 
towards this trusted cousin of his ! 

The cavalcade fell into line again, with the two 
princes in the middle, and made a stately entry 
into Peronne at a little after mnd-day. ^ The chief 
building then and the natural place to lodge a royal 
visitor was the castle. But it was in sorry repair, 
ill furnished, and affording less comfort than a 
neighbouring house belonging to a city official. 
Here rooms had been prepared for the king and a 
few of his suite, the others being quartered through 
the town. At the door Charles took his leave and 
Louis entered alone with Cardinal Balue and the 
attendants he had chosen to keep near him. 
These latter were nearly all of inferior birth, and 
were treated by their master with a familiarity 
very astonishing to the stately Burgundians. 

Louis entered the room assigned for his use, 
walked to the window, and looked out into the 
street. The sight that met his view was most 
disquieting. A party of cavaliers were on the 

1 Commines and a letter to the magistrates of Ypres are the 
basis of this narrative. (Gachard, Doc. ined., i., 196.) There is, 
however, a mass of additional material both contemporaneous 
and commentating. See also Michelet, Lavisse, Kirk, etc. 
Chastellain's MS. is lost. 



2o8 Charles the Bold 

point of entering the castle. They were gentle- 
men just arrived from Burgundy with their lances, 
in response to a summons issued long before the 
present visit was anticipated. ' As he looked down 
on the troops, Louis recognised several men who 
had no cause to love him or to cherish his mem- 
ory. There was, for instance, the queen's brother 
Philip de Bresse^ who had led a party against 
Louis's own sister Yolande of Savoy. At a time 
of parley this Philip had trusted the sincerity of 
his brother-in-law's profession and had visited 
him to obtain his mediation. The king had 
violated both the specified safe-conduct and am- 
bassadorial equity alike, and had thrown De 
Bresse into the citadel of Loches, where he suffered 
a long confinement before he succeeded in making 
his escape. He was a Burgundian in sympathy as 
well as in race. But with him on that October 
day Louis noticed various Frenchmen who had 
fallen under royal displeasure from one cause or 
another and had saved their liberty by flight, 
renouncing their allegiance to him for ever. 
Four there were in all who wore the cross of St. 
Andrew. Approaching Peronne as they had from 
the south, these new-comers had ridden in at the 
southern gates without intimation of this royal 
visitation extraordinary until they were almost 
face to face with guest and host. Their arrival 
was " a half of a quarter of an hour later than that 
of the king." 

i See Lavisse, iv^'., 397. 



I 



The Meeting at Peronne 209 

When Philip de Bresse and his friends learned 
what was going on, they hastened to the duke's 
chambers *'to give him reverence." Monseigneur 
de Bresse was the spokesman in begging the duke 
that the three above named should be assured of 
their security notwithstanding the king's presence 
at Peronne, — of security such as he had pledged 
them in Burgundy and promised for the hour when 
they should arrive at his court. On their part 
they were ready to serve him towards all and 
against all. Which petition the duke granted 
orally. " The force conducted by the Marshal of 
Burgundy was encamped without the gates, and 
the said marshal spoke no ill of the king, nor did 
the others I have mentioned." ^ 

It was, however, a situation in which apprehen- 
sion was not confined to the men of lower station. 
To Louis, looking down from his window, there 
seemed dire menace in the mere presence of these 
persons who had heavy grievances against him, 
and the unfortified private house seemed slight 
protection against their possible vengeance. Here, 
Charles might disavow injury to him as something 
happening quite without his knowledge. On 
ducal soil the safest place was assuredly under 
shelter patently ducal. There, there would be no 
doubt of responsibility did misfortune happen. 

Straightway the king sent a messenger to 
Charles asking for quarters within the castle. The 

1 Ludwig V. Diesbach. {See Kirk, i., 559.) The author was 
a page in Louis's train, who afterwards played a part in Swiss 
affairs. 



210 Charles the Bold 

request was granted and the uneasy guest passed 
through the massive portals between a double 
line of Burgundian men-at-arms. It was no cheer- 
ful, pleasant, palatial dwelling-place this little old 
castle of Peronne. So thick were the walls that 
vain had been all assaults against it.^ Designed 
for a fortress rather than a residence, it had been 
repeatedly used as a prison, and the air of the 
whole was tainted by the dungeons under its walls, 
dungeons which had seen many unwilling lodgers. 
Five centuries earlier than this date, Charles the 
Simple had languished to death in one of the 
towers. 

This change of arrangement, or rather the 
disquieting reason for the change, undoubtedly 
clouded the peacefulness of the occasion. Yet 
outward calm was preserved. Commines asserts 
that the two princes directed their people to behave 
amicably to each other and that the commands 
were scrupulously obeyed. For two or three days 
the desired conferences took place between Charles 
and Louis. The king's wishes were perfectly 
plain. He wanted Charles to forsake all other 
alliances and to pledge himself to support his 
feudal chief, first and foremost, from all attacks of 
his enemies. The Duke of Brittany had sub- 
mitted to his liege. If the Duke of Burgundy 
would only accept terms equally satisfactory in 
their way, the pernicious alliance between the two 
would vanish, to the weal of French unity. 

» It was never captured until Wellington took it in 1814. 




PHILIP DE COMMINES 



I 



The Meeting at Peronne 2 1 1 

Apparently the first discussion was heard by none 
except the Cardinal Balue and Guillaume de Biche. 
Charles was willing to pledge allegiance and to pro- 
mise aid to his feudal chief, but under limitations 
that weakened the value of his words. Nothing 
could induce him to renounce alliance with other 
princes for mutual aid, did they need it. There 
was a second interview on the following day. 
Charles held tenaciously to his position. Then 
there came a sudden alteration in the situation, 
a strange dramatic shifting of the duke's point of 
view. 

The city of Liege had submitted perforce to the 
behests of her imperious neighbour, but the citi- 
zens had never ceased to hope that his unwelcome 
"protection" might be dispensed with; that, by 
the aid of French troops, they might eventually 
wrest themselves free from the Burgundian incu- 
bus. In spite of all promises to Charles, secret 
negotiations between the anti-Burgundian party 
and Louis XL had never ceased. The latter never 
refused to admit the importunate embassies to his 
presence. He was glad to keep in touch with the 
city even in its ruined condition. He sent envoys 
as well as received them, and Commines states 
definitely that, in making his plan to visit Peronne, 
the fact of a confidential commission recently de- 
spatched to Liege had wholly slipped the king's 
mind. 

In that town the duke'slieutenant, Humbercourt, 
had been left to supervise the humiliating changes 



212 Charles the Bold 

ordered. And the work of demolition was the only 
industry. Other ordinary business was at a stand- 
still. For a period there was a sullen silence in the 
streets and the church bells were at rest. In 
April, a special legate from the pope arrived to see 
whether ecclesiastical affairs could not be put on a 
better footing. 

It was about the same time that the States- 
General were meeting at Tours that, under the 
direction of this legate, Onofrio de Santa-Croce, 
the cathedral was purified with holy water, and 
Louis of Bourbon celebrated his very first mass, 
though he had been seated on the episcopal throne 
for twelve years. Then Onofrio tried to mediate 
between the city and the Duke of Burgundy. 
To Bruges he went to see Charles, and obtained 
permission to draft a project for the re-establish- 
ment of the civic government, to be submitted to 
the duke for approval. 

If Onofrio thought he had reformed the bishop 
by forcing him into performing his priestly rites 
he soon learned his mistake. That ecclesiastic 
speedily disgusted his flock by his ill-timed festivi- 
ties, and then forsook the city and sailed away to 
Maestricht in a gaily painted barge, with gay com- 
panions to pass the summer in frivolous amuse- 
ments suited to his dissolute tastes. Such was the 
state of affairs when the report of Louis's exten- 
sive military preparations encouraged the Liegeois 
to hope that he was to take the field openly against 
the duke. 



The Meeting at Peronne 213 

About the beginning of September, troops of 
forlorn and desperate exiles began to return to the 
city. They came, to be sure, with shouts of Vive le 
Roil but, as a matter of fact, they seemed willing 
to make any accommodation for the sake of being 
permitted to remain. '' Better any fate at home 
thai*- to live like wild beasts with the recollection 
that we had once been men." 

To make a long story short, Onofrio again 
endeavoured to rouse the bishop to a sense of his 
duty. Again he tried to make terms for the exiles 
and to re-establish a tenable condition. It was 
useless. Louis of Bourbon refused to approach 
nearer to Liege than Tongres, and declined to meet 
the advances of his despairing subjects. It was 
just at this moment that fresh emissaries arrived 
from Louis, despatched, as already stated, before 
Charles had consented to prolong the truce. 

Excited by their presence the Liegeois once 
more roused themselves to action. A force of 
two thousand was gathered at Liege, and advanced 
by night upon Tongres — also without walls — 
surrounded the house where lay their bishop, 
and forced him to return to Liege. Violence there 
was and loss of life, but, as a matter of fact, the 
mob respected the person of their bishop and of 
Humbercourt the chief Burgundian official. This 
event happened on October 9th, the very day that 
Louis rode recklessly into Peronne. 

On Wednesday, October nth, the news of the 
fray reached Peronne, but news greatly exag- 



214 Charles the Bold 

gerated by rumour. Bishop, papal legate, and 
Burgundian lieutenant all had been ruthlessly 
murdered in the very presence of Louis's own 
envoys, who had aided and abetted the hideous 
crime ! To follow the story of an eyewitness : ^ 

"Some said that everyone was dead, others asserted 
the contrary, for such advertisments are never 
reported after one sort. At length others came who 
had seen certain canons slain and supposed the 
bishop 2 to be of the number, as well as the said seign- 
eur de Humbercourt and all the rest. Further, they 
said that they had seen the king's ambassadors in the 
attacking company and mentioned them by name. 
All this was repeated to the duke, who forthwith 
believed it and fell into an extreme fury, saying that 
the king had come thither to abuse him, and gave 
commands to shut the gates of the castle and of the 
town, alleging a poor enough excuse, namely, that he 
did this on account of the disappearance of a little 
casket containing some good rings and money. 

"The king finding himself confined in the castle, 
a small one at that, and having seen a force of archers 
standing before the gate, was terrified for his person — 
the more so that he was lodged in the neighbourhood 
of a tower where a certain Count de Vermandois had 
caused the death of one of his predecessors as king 
of France.^ At that time, I was still with the duke 

» Commines, ii., ch. vii. 

2 The bishop did indeed meet his death at the hands of the 
mob, but it was many years later. 

3 Le roi . . . se voyait loge, rasibus (Tune grosse tour ou 
un Comte de Vermandois fit m-ourir un sien predecesseur Roy 
de France. (Commines, ii., ch. vii.) 



The Meeting at Peronne 215 

and served him as chamberlain, and had free access 
to his chamber when I would, for such was the usage 
in this household. 

"The said duke, as soon as he saw the gates closed, 
ordered all to leave his presence and said to a few of us 
that stayed with him that the king had come on pur- 
pose to betray him, and that he himself had tried to 
avoid his coming with all his strength, and that the 
meeting had been against his taste. Then he pro- 
ceeded to recount the news from Liege, how the king 
had pulled all the wires through his ambassadors, 
and how his people had been slain. He was fearfully 
excited against the king. I veritably believe that if 
at that hour he had found those to whom he could 
appeal ready to sympathise with him and to advise 
him to work the king some mischief, he would have 
done so, at the least he would have imprisoned him in 
the great tower. 

"None were present when the words fell from the 
duke but myself and two grooms of the chamber, one 
of whom was named Charles de Visen, a native of 
Dijon, an honest fellow, in good credit with his master. 
We aggravated nothing, but sought to appease the 
duke as much as in us lay. Soon he tried the same 
phrases on others, and a report of them ran through 
the city and penetrated to the very apartment of the 
king, who was greatly terrified, as was everyone, be- 
cause of the danger that they saw imminent, and 
because of the great difficulty in soothing a quarrel 
when it has commenced between such great princes. 
Assuredly they were blameworthy in failing to notify 
their absent servants of this projected meeting. 
Great inconveniences were bound to arise from this 
negligence," • 



2i6 Charles the Bold 

Such is Commines's narrative. Eyewitness 
though he was, it must be remembered that when 
he wrote the account of this famous interview it 
was long after the event, and when his point of 
view was necessarily coloured by his service with 
Louis. Delightful, however, are the historian's 
own reflections that he intersperses with his plain 
narrative. To his mind the only period when it is 
safe for princes to meet is 

"in their youth when their minds are bent on pleas- 
ure. Then they may amuse themselves together. 
But after they are come to man's estate and are 
desirous each of over-reaching the other, such inter- 
views do but increase their mutual hatred, even if 
they incur no personal peril (which is well-nigh im- 
possible). Far wiser is it for them to adjust their 
differences through sage and good servants as I have 
said at length elsewhere in these memoirs." 

Then our chronicler proceeds to give numerous 
instances of disastrous royal interviews before 
returning to his subject and to Peronne: 

"I was moved [he adds again at the beginning of his 
new chapter] to tell the princes my opinion of such 
meetings.^ Thus the gates were closed and guarded 
and two or three days passed by. However, the 
Duke of Burgundy would not see the king, nor had 
Louis's servants entry to the castle except a few, and 
those only through the wicket. Nor did the duke see 
any of his people who had influence over him, 

* M^moireSy ii., ch. ix. 



The Meeting at Peronne 217 

"The first day there was consternation throughout 
the city. By the second day the duke was a little 
calmed down. He held a council meeting all day 
and the greater part of the night. The king appealed 
to every one who could possibly aid him. He was 
lavish in his promises and ordered fifteen thousand 
crowns to be given where it might count, but the officer 
in charge of the disbursement of this sum acquitted 
himself ill and retained a part, as the king learned 
later. 

"The king was especially afraid of his former ser- 
vants who had come with the army from Burgundy, 
as I mentioned above, men who were now in the 
service of the Duke of Normandy. 

"Diverse were the opinions in the above-mentioned 
council-meeting. Some held that the safe-conduct 
accorded to the king protected him, seeing that he 
fairly observed the peace as it had been stated in 
writing. Others rudely urged his capture without 
further ceremony, while others again advised sending 
for his brother, the Duke of Normandy, and conclud- 
ing with him a peace to the advantage of all the 
princes of France. They who gave this advice 
thought that in case it was adopted, the king should be 
restrained of his liberty. Further, it was against all 
precedent to free so great a seigneur when he had com- 
mitted so grave an offence. 

"This last argument so nearly prevailed that I saw 
a man booted and spurred ready to depart with a 
packet of letters addressed to Monseigneur of Nor- 
mandy, being in Brittany, and stayed only for the 
Duke of Burgundy's letter. However, this came to 
naught. The king made overtures to leave as hostages 
the Duke of Bourbon, the cardinal, his brother, ancj 



2i8 Charles the Bold 

the constable with a dozen others while he should be 
permitted to return to Compiegne after peace was 
concluded. He promised that the Liegeois should 
repair their mischief or he would declare himself their 
foe. The appointed hostages were profuse in their 
offers to immolate themselves, at least they were in 
public. I do not know whether they would have 
said the same things in private. I rather suspect not. 
And in truth, I believe that those who were left 
would never have returned. 

"On the third night after the arrival of the news, 
the duke never undressed, but lay down two or three 
times on his bed, and then rose and walked up and 
down. Such was his way when he was troubled. 
I lay that night in his chamber and talked with him 
from time to time. In the morning his fury was greater 
than ever, his tone very menacing, and he seemed 
ready to go to any extreme. 

** However, he finally brought himself to say that 
if the king would swear the peace and would accom- 
pany him to Liege to help avenge Monsgn. of Liege, 
his own kinsman, he would be satisfied. Then he sud- 
denly betook himself to the king's chamber and ex- 
pressed himself to that effect. The king had a friend • 
who warned him, assuring him that he should suffer 
no ill if he would concede these two points. Did he 

1 Undoubtedly Commines wishes it to be inferred that this 
was he. The main narrative followed here is Commines, 
whose memoirs remain, as Ste.-Beuve says, the definitive 
history of the times. There are the errors inevitable to any 
contemporary statement. Meyer, to be sure, says, apropos 
of an incident incorrectly reported, Falsus in hoc ut in pluri- 
bus historicus. Kervyn de Lettenhove three centuries later 
is also severe. See, too, "L'autorite historique de Ph. de 
Commynes," Mandrot, Rev. Hist., 73. 



The Meeting at Peronne 219 

do otherwise he ran grave risk, giaver than he would 
ever incur again." 

When the duke entered the royal presence his 
voice trembled, so agitated was he and on the 
verge of breaking into a passion. He assumed 
a reverential attitude, but rough were mien and 
word as he demanded whether the king would 
keep the treaty of peace as it had been drafted, 
and whether he was ready to swear to it. " Yes" 
was the king's response. In truth, nothing had 
been added to the agreement made before Paris, 
or at least little as far as the Duke of Burgundy 
was concerned. As regarded the Duke of Nor- 
mandy, it was stipulated that if he would renounce 
that province he should have Champagne and Brie 
besides other neighbouring territories for his share. 

Then the duke asked if the king would accom- 
pany him to avenge the outrage committed upon 
his cousin the bishop. 

"To which demand the king gave assent as soon as 
the peace was sworn. He was quite satisfied to go to 
Liege and with a small or large escort, just as the duke 
preferred. This answer pleased the duke immensely. 
In was brought the treaty, out of the king's coffer 
was taken the piece of the true cross, the very one 
carried by Saint Charlemagne, called the Cross of 
Victory, and thereupon the two swore the peace. 

' ' This was now October 1 4th. In a minute the bells 
pealed out their joy throughout Peronne and all men 
were glad. It hath pleased the king since to attribute 
the credit of this pacification to me." 



220 Charles the Bold 

There was undoubtedly an immense sense of re- 
lief in Peronne when this degree of accommodation 
was reached. The duke was unwiUing, however, 
to have too much rejoicing in his domains until 
he had ascertained for himself the state of Liege. 
Among the letters despatched from Peronne this 
October 14th, was the following to the magistrates 
of Ypres : ^ 

"Dear and well beloved friends, considering that we 
have to-day made peace and convention with Mon- 
seigneur the king, and that for this reason you might 
be inclined to let off fire-works and make other mani- 
festations of joy, we hasten to advise you that . . . 
our pleasure is you shall not permit fireworks or 
assembhes in our town of Ypres on account of the said 
peace until we have subdued the people of Liege, and 
avenged the said outrage [described above]. This with 
God's aid we intend to do. We are on the point of 
departure with all our forces for Liege. Beloved, 
may our Lord protect you. 

"Written in our castle of Peronne, October 14, 
1468." 

A certain G. Ruple conveyed his own impressions 
to the magistrates of Ypres, possibly managing to 
slip them under the same cover. ^ 

"To-day, at about 10 o'clock, peace v/as concluded 
between the king and Monseigneur, and also between 
the king and the Duke of Berry. Here, bells are ring- 
ing and the Te Deum is sung. It is generally believed 
that Monseigneur will depart to-morrow. God de- 

1 Gachard, Doc. ined.; i., 199. ^ Ibid., 200. 



The Meeting at Peronne 221 

serves thanks for the result, for I assure you that last 
night the outlook was not clear." ^ 

The king wrote as follows to his confidential 
lieutenant : 

"Peronne, October 14th. 

" Monseigneur the grand master, you are already 
informed how there has been discussion in my council 
and that of my brother-in-law of Burgundy, as to the 
best manner of adjusting certain differences between 
him and me. It went so far that in order to arrive 
at a conclusion I came to this town of Peronne. Here 
we have busied ourselves with the requisitions passing 
between us, so that to-day we have, thanks to our 
Lord, in the presence of all the nobles of the blood, 
prelates and other great and notable personages in 
. great numbers, both from my suite and from his, sworn 
peace solemnly on the true cross, and promised to aid, 
defend and succour each other for ever. Also on the 
same cross we have ratified the treaty of Arras with 
its corrections and other points which seemed pro- 
ductive of peace and amity. 

''Immediately after this the Duke of Burgundy 
ordered thanksgivings in the churches of his lands, 
and in this town he has already had great solemnity. 
And because my brother of Burgundy has heard that 
the Liegeois have taken prisoner my cousin the 
bishop of Liege, whom he is determined to deliver 
as quickly as possible, he has besought me as a favour 
to him, and also because the bishop is my kinsman 
whom I ought to aid, to accompany him to Liege, 
not far from here. This I have agreed to, and have 

1 Waer ic certiffiere dat het dezen nacht niet wel claer ghestaen 
heejt. 



22 2 Charles the Bold 

chosen as my escort a portion of the troops under 
monseigneur the constable, in the hopes of a speedy- 
return by the aid of God. 

"And because it is for my weal and that of my 
subjects I write to you at once, because I am sure 
you will be pleased, and that you will order like solem- 
nities. Moreover, monseigneur the grand master, 
as I lately wrote to you, pray as quickly as possible 
disband my arriere ban together with the free lances, 
and do every possible thing for the mass of poor 
folks; appoint well-to-do men as leaders in every baili- 
wick and district. Above all, see to it that they do 
not indulge in any new and startling conduct. That 
done, if you wish to come to Bohan, to be nearer me, 
I would be glad, so as to be able to provide for any 
further action that may arise. Written at Peronne 
October 14th. 

"LOYS 

Meurin. 
"To our dear and beloved cousin the Count of 
Dammar tin, grand master of France."^ 

Dammartin thought that this letter was phrased 
for the purpose of passing Charles's censorship. 
He took the liberty of disregarding his master's 
orders; the troops were not disbanded, and he held 
himself in readiness to go to fetch the errant 
monarch if he did not return speedily from the 
enemy's country. His letter to the king and the 
unwritten additions delivered by his confidential 
messengers terrified his liege lest too much zeal 

1 Lettres de Louis XI, iii., 289. The king apparently never 
resented the part played by Dammartin when he was dau- 
phin. His letters to him are very intimate. 



The Meeting at Peronne ^ 223 

on his behalf in France might work him ill in 
Liege. A week later Louis writes again : 

" Namur, Oct. 22nd. 

"MONSEIGNEUR THE GrAND MaSTER: 

"I have received your letter by Sire du Bouchage. 
Be assured that I make this journey to Liege under no 
constraint, and that I never took any journey with such 
good heart as I do this. Since God and Our Lady 
have given me grace to be friends with Monseigneur 
of Burgundy, be sure that never shall our rabble over 
there take arms against me. Monseigneur the grand 
master, my friend, you have proved that you love me, 
and you have done me the greatest service that you 
can, and there is another service that you can do. 
The people of Monseigneur of Burgundy think that 
I mean to deceive them, and people there [in France] 
think that I am a prisoner. Distrust between the 
two would be my ruin. 

"Monseigneur, as to the quarters of your men, 
you know what we planned, you and I, touching the 
action of Armagnac. It seems to me that you ought 
to send your people straight ahead in that direction 
and I will furnish you four or five captains as soon as I 
am out of this, and you can make what choice you will. 
M. the grand master, my friend, come, I beg you, to 
Laon and await me there. Send me a messenger the 
minute you arrive and I will let you have frequent 
news. Be assured that as soon as the Liegeois are 
subdued, on the morrow I will depart, for Monsg. of 
Burgundy is resolved to urge me to go as soon as he 
has finished his work at Liege, and he desires my 
return more than I do. Fran9ois Dunois will tell you 



224 Charles the Bold 

what good cheer we are making. Adieu, monseigneur, 
etc. 

"Writ at Namur, Oct. 22^^^ 

** Louis 
"toussaint. 
"To our dear and beloved cousin the Count of 
Dammartin, grand master of France." ^ 

Letters of the same date to Rochefoucauld and 
others also declare that Louis goes most gladly with 
his dear brother of Burgundy and that the af- 
fair will not require much time. To Cardinal Ba- 
lue he writes only a few words, telling him that 
the messenger will be more communicative. 

Between Peronne and Namur did the party turn 
aside to visit the young Duchess of Burgundy, ei- 
ther at Hesdin or at Aire? Such is the conjecture 
of a learned Belgian editor, and he carries his sur- 
mise further in suggesting that in this brief sojourn 
was performed Chastellain's mystery of "The 
Peace of Peronne. "^ Perhaps these verses, if put 
in the mouths of Louis and Charles, may have 
pleased the princely spectators of the dra- 
matic poem. Mutual admiration was the key- 
note of these flowery speeches while the other 

1 Letfres, iii., 295. (Toussaint is probably Toustain.) 

2 Kervyn ed., CEuvres de Chastellain, vii., xviii. See poem, 
ibid., 423. The MS. in the Laurentian Library at Florence 
bears this line : ' ' Here follows a mystery made because of the 
said peace of good intention in the thought that it would be 
observed by the parties." Hesdin is, however, a long way 
out of the route between Peronne and Namur, where the party 
was on October 14th. It would hardly seem possible for 
journey and visit in so brief a time. 



The Meeting at Peronne 225 

dramatis personce expressed unstinted admiration 
for the wonderful deed accomplished by these two 
pure souls who have sworn peace when they 
might have brought dire war on their innocent 
subjects. 

"Never did David, nor Ogier, nor Roland, that 
proud knight, nor the great Charlemagne, nor the 
proud Duke of Mayence, nor Mongleive, the heir, from 
whom issued noble fruit, nor King Arthur, nor Oliver, 
nor Rossillon, nor Charbonnier in their dozens of vic- 
tories approach or touch with hand or foot the work 
I treat of." 

[The king speaks.] 

"Charles, be assured that Louis will be there-estab- 
lisher and provider of all that touches your honour and 
peace between you and him. That he will ever be 
appreciator of you and avenger, a nourisher of joy 
and love in repairing all that my predecessor did. 

[The duke speaks.] 

"And Charles, who loves his honour as much as his 
soul, wishes nothing better than to serve you and 
this realm and to extol your house. For I know that is 
the reason why I have glory and reputation. Then if 
it please God and Our Lady, my body will keep from 
blame." 

One stanza, indeed, uttered by Louis strikes a 
note of doubt: ''Charles, so many debates may 
occur, so many incidents and accidents in our 
various actions, that a rupture may be dreaded." 



226 Charles the Bold 

Vehemently did the duke repudiate the bare 
possibiHty of a new breach between him and his 
liege. The whole is a pasan at a love feast. If 
the two together heard their counterfeits ex- 
press such perfect fidelity, how Louis XL must 
have laughed to himself behind his mask of forced 
courtesy! Charles, on the other hand, was 
quite capable of taking it all seriously, wholly un- 
conscious that he had not cut the lion's claws for 
once and all. 



j 



CHAPTER XII 

AN EASY VICTORY 
1468 

IT was in the midst of heavy rains that the 
journey was made to Namur and then on 
to the environs of Liege. Grim was the 
weather, befitting, in all probability, Charles's 
own mood. The king's escort was confined to 
very few besides the Scottish guard, but a body 
of three hundred troopers was permitted to follow 
him at a distance, while the faithful Dammartin 
across the border kept himself closely informed 
of every incident connected with the march that 
his scouts could gather, and in readiness to fall 
upon Burgundian possessions at a word of alarm, 
while he restrained his ardour for the moment in 
obedience to Louis's anxious command. 

By the fourth week of October the Franco- 
Burgundian party were settled close to Liege 
in straggling camps, separated from each other by 
hills and uneven ground. Long was the discussion 
in council meeting as to the best mode of procedure. 
Liege was absolutely helpless in the face of this 
coalition. Wide breaches made her walls useless. 
Moats she had never possessed, for digging was 
well-nigh impossible on her rocky site covered by 

mud and slime from the overflow of the Meuse, 

227 



228 Charles the Bold 

On accolint of this evident weakness, the king 
advised dismissing half the army as needless, advice 
that was not only rejected immediately but which 
excited Charles's doubts of the king's good faith. 
Over a week passed and feeble Liege continued 
obstinate, while each division of the army man- 
oeuvred to be first in the assault for the sake of 
the plunder. But advance was very difficult, for 
the soldiers were impeded in their movements 
by the slime. Wild were some of the night skir- 
mishes over the uneven, slippery ground and 
amidst the little sheltering hills. 

On one occasion, " a great many were hurt and 
among the rest the Prince of Orange (whom I had 
forgotten to name before) , who behaved that day 
like a courageous gentleman, for he never moved 
foot o£E the place he first possessed. . . . 
The duke, too, did not lack in courage but he 
failed sometimes in order giving, and to say the 
truth, he behaved himself not so advisedly as 
many wished because of the king's presence." ^ 

There is no doubt that Charles entertained 
increasingly sinister suspicions of his guest. He 
thought the king might either try to enter the city 
ahead of him and manage to placate his ancient 
allies by a specious explanation, or else he might 
succeed in effecting his escape without fulfilling 
his compact. At last Charles appointed Sunday, 
October 30th, for an assault. On the 29th, his own 

1 Commines, ii., ch. xi. It was not far from the place 
where another Prince of Orange tried to cross the Meuse 
exactly a hundred years later. 



An Easy Victory 229 

quarters were in a little suburb of mean, low houses, 
with rough ground and vineyards separating his 
camp from the city. Between his house and that 
of the king, both humble dwellings, was an old 
granary, occupied by a picked Burgundian force 
of three hundred men under special injunctions to 
keep close watch over the royal guest and see that 
he played no sudden trick. To further this pur- 
pose of espionage, they had made a breach in the 
walls with heavy blows of their picks. 

The men were wearied with all their marching 
and skirmishing, and in order to have them in 
fighting trim on the morrow, Charles had ordered 
all alike to turn in and refresh themselves. The 
exhausted troops gladly obeyed this injunction. 
Charles was disarmed and sleeping, so, too, were 
Philip de Commines and the few attendants that 
lay within the narrow ducal chamber. Only a 
dozen pickets mounted guard in the room over 
Charles's little apartment, and kept their tired 
eyes open by playing at dice. 

On that Saturday night when Charles was thus 
prudently gathering strength for the final tussle, 
the people of Liege also indulged in repose, count- 
ing on Sunday being a day of rest, that is, 
the major part of the burgher folk did within city 
limits. But another plan was on foot among some 
of the inhabitants of an outlying region. An 
attack on the Burgundian camp was planned by a 
band from Franchimont, a wild and wooded dis- 
trict, south of the episcopal see. The natives 



230 Charles the Bold 

there had all the characteristics of mountaineers, 
although the heights of their rugged country 
reached only modest altitudes. ^ 

These invaders were fortunate in obtaining 
as guides the owners of the very houses requisi- 
tioned for the lodgings of the two princes. 
Straight to their goal they progressed through 
paths quite unknown to the foe, and therefore 
un watched. The highlanders made a mistake in 
not rushing headlong to the royal lodgings, where 
in the first confusion they might have accomplished 
their design upon the lives of Louis and of Charles 
or at least have taken the two prisoners. But a 
pause at a French nobleman's tent created a dis- 
turbance which roused the archers in the granary. 
The latter sallied out, to meet with a fierce counter- 
attack. In order to confuse them the mount- 
aineers echoed the Burgundian cries, Vive 
Bourgogne, vive le roy et tuez, tuez, and they were 
not always immediately identified by their harsh 
Liege accent. 

The highlanders were far outnumbered by the 
Burgundians, and it was only by dint of their 
desperate courage and by reason of the pitchy 
darkness and of the locality with its unknown 
roughness that the former inflicted the damage 
that they did. 

Commines and his fellows helped the duke into 
his cuirass, and stood by his person, while the 
king's bodyguard of Scottish archers "proved 

1 The story of the " men of Franchimont " is questioned. 
Commines is the only authority for it. 



An Easy Victory 231 

themselves good fellows, who never budged from 
their master's feet and shot arrow upon arrow out 
into the darkness, wounding more Burgundians 
than Liegeois." The first to fall was Charles's 
own host, the guide of the marauders to his own 
cottage door. There were many more victims 
and no mercy. It was, indeed, an encounter 
characterised by the passions of war and the 
conditions of a mere burglarious attack on private 
houses. 

Quaking with fear was the king. He thought 
that if the duke should now fail to make a com- 
plete conquest of Liege, his own fate would hang 
in the balance. At a hasty council meeting held 
that night, Charles was very doubtful as to the 
expediency of carrying out his proposed assault 
upon the city. Very distrustful of each other were 
the allies, a fact that caused Philip de Commines 
to comment, ^ '* scarcely fifteen days had elapsed 
since these two had sworn a definitive peace and 
solemnly promised to support each other loyally. 
But confidence could not enter in any way." 

Charles gave Louis permission to retire to 
Namur and wait until the duke had reduced the 
recalcitrant burghers once for all. Louis thought 
it wiser to keep close to Charles's own person until 
they parted company for ever, and the morrow 
found him in the duke's company as he marched 
on to Liege. 

"My opinion is, [says Commines], that he would 
* II., ch, 25;iii, 



232 Charles the Bold 

have been wise to depart that night. He could have 
done it for he had a hundred archers of his guard, 
various gentlemen of his household, and, near at hand, 
three hundred men-at-arms. Doubtless he was 
stayed by considerations of honour. He did not wish 
to be accused of cowardice." 

Olivier de la Marche, also present as the princely 
pair entered Liege, heard the king say: ''March 
on, my brother, for you are the luckiest prince 
alive." As they entered the gates, Louis shouted 
lustily, " Vive Bourgogne, " to the infinite dismay 
of his former friends, the burghers of Liege. 

The remainder of the history of that dire Sun- 
day morning differs from that of other assaults 
only in harrowing details, and the"extremity of the 
pitilessness and ferocity manifested by the con- 
querors. Charles had previously spared churches, 
and protected the helpless. Above all he had 
severely punished all ill treatment of respectable 
women. Little trace of this former restraint was 
to be seen on this occasion. The inhabitants were 
destroyed and banished by dozens. Those who 
fled from their homes leaving their untasted 
breakfasts to be eaten by the intruding soldiers, 
those who were scattered through the numerous 
churches, those who attempted to defend the 
breaches in the walls — all alike were treated with- 
out mercy. 

The Cathedral of^ St. Lambert, Charles did 
endeavour to protect. "The duke himself went 
thither, and one man I saw him kill with his own 



t 



J 



OLIVIER DE LA MARCHE 

(from MS. REPRODUCED IN MEM. COURONNES, ETC., PAR L'ACAD, 

ROYALE DE BELGIQUE VOL. XLIX.) 



An Easy Victory 233 

hand, whereupon all the company departed and 
that particular church was not pillaged, but at 
the end the men who had taken refuge there were 
captured as well as the wealth of the church." 

At about midday Charles joined Louis at the 
episcopal palace, where the latter had found 
apartments better suited to his rank than the rude 
huts that had sheltered him for the past few days. 
The king was in good spirits and enjoyed his dinner 
in spite of the unsavoury scenes that were still 
in progress about him. He manifested great joy 
in the successful assault, and was lavish in his 
praises of the duke's courage, taking care that his 
admiring phrases should be promptly reported 
to his cousin. ^ His one great preoccupation, 
however, was to return to his own realm. 

After dinner the duke and he made good cheer 
together. "If the king had praised his works 
behind his back, still more loud was he in his open 
admiration. And the duke was pleased." No 
telling sign of friendship for Charles had Louis 
spared that day, so terrified was he lest some 
testimony from his ancient proteges might prove 
his ruin. "Let the word be Burgundy," he had 
cried to his followers when the attack began. 
" Tuez, tuez, vive Bourgogne.'^ 

There is another contemporaneous historian 
who somewhat apologetically relates the follow- 
ing incident of this interview. ^ In this friendly 

1 Commines, ii., ch. xiii. 

2 Ondenhosch,V eterum scriptorum, etc. Amplissima Collectio, 
pd. E. Martene, iv. Rerum Leodiensim. Opus Adriani de 



2 34 Charles the Bold 

Sabbath day chat, Charles asked Louis how he 
ought to treat Liege when his soldiers had finished 
their work. No trace of kindliness towards his 
old friends was there in the king's answer. 

" Once my father had a high tree near his house, 
inhabited by crows who had built their nests 
thereon and disturbed his repose by their chatter. 
He had the nests removed but the crows returned 
and built anew. Several times was this repeated. 
Then he had the tree cut down at the roots. After 
that my father slept quietly." 

Four or five days passed before Louis dared 
press the question of his return home. The follow- 
ing note written in Italian, dated on the day of the 
assault, is significant of his state of mind : 

Louis XL TO THE Count de Foix 

**Monseigneur the Prince: 

** To-day my brother of Burgundy and I entered 
in great multitude and with force into this city of 
Liege, and because I have great desire to return, I 
advise you that on next Tuesday morning I will depart 
hence, and I will not cease riding without making any 
stops until I reach there. ^ I pray you to let me know 
what is to be done. 

"Writ at Liege, October 30th. 

"LOYS 

**De la Loere." 



Veteri Busco, p. 1343. The writer acknowledges that the 
story is hearsay. 

1 " Non cesser o di cavalchare senza fare demoia alcuna. 
Lettres, iii., 300. 



An Easy Victory 235 

Punctilious was Louis in his assurances to his 
host that if he could be of any further aid he hoped 
his cousin would command him. If there were, in- 
deed, nothing, he thought his best plan would be to 
go to Paris and have the late treaty duly recorded 
and published to insure its validity. Charles 
grumbled a little, but finally agreed to speed his 
parting guest after the treaty had been again 
read aloud to the king so that he might dissent 
from any one of its articles or ever after hold his 
peace. 

Quite ready was Louis to re-confirm ever5rthing 
sworn to at Peronne. Just as he was departing 
he put one more query : " ' If perchance my brother 
now in Brittany should be dissatisfied with the 
share I accord him out of love to you, what do you 
want me to do?' The duke answered abruptly 
and without thought: 'If he does not wish to 
take it, but if you content him otherwise, I will 
trust to you two. ' From this question and an- 
swer arose great things as you shall hear later. 
So the king departed at his pleasure, and Mons. de 
Cordes and d' Emeries, Grand Bailiff of Hainaut 
escorted him out of ducal territory. ' ' ^ 

**0 wonderful and memorable crime of this king of 
the French [declares a contemporaneous Liege sym- 
pathiser.] 2 Scarcely anything so bad can be found in 
ancient annals or in modern history. What could be 

* Commines, ii., ch. xiv. 

2 "O prcBclarunt et memorahile f acinus hujus regis Franc- 
orum." 



236 Charles the Bold 

more stupid or more perfidious, or a better instance 
of infamy than for a king who had incited a people to 
arms against the Burgundians to act thus for the sake 
of his own safety? Not once but many times had 
he pledged them his faith, offering them defence 
and assistance against the same Burgundians. And 
now when they are overwhelmed and confound- 
ed by this Burgundian duke, this king actually co- 
operates with their foe, to their damage, wears that 
foe's insignia and dares to hide himself behind those 
emblems, and assist to destroy those to whom he 
himself had furnished aid and subsidies with pledges 
of good faith! I am ashamed to commit this to 
writing, and to hand it down to posterity, knowing 
that it will seem incredible to many. But it is so 
notorious throughout France and is confirmed by so 
many adequate witnesses who have seen and heard 
these things that no room is left for doubt of their 
veracity except to one desiring to ignore the truth." ^ 

November 2d is the date of Louis's departure. 
It needs no stretch of the imagination to believe 
the words of his little Swiss page, Diesbach, when 
he says that on reaching French soil Louis dis- 
mounted and kissed the ground in a paroxysm of 
joy that he was his own man again. 2 Devoutly, 
too, he gave thanks to God for helping him in his 
need. Still this joy was concealed under euphe- 
mistic phrases in his correspondence. On No- 

1 Basin, Histoire des regnes de Charles VII. et de Louis XL, 
Quicherat ed., ii., 204. This also appears in Excerpta ex Amel- 
gardi. De gestis Ludovici XL, cap. xxiii. Martene's Am- 
plissima Collectio, iv., 740 et seq. 

2 Quoted in Kirk, i., 606, note. 



An Easy Victory 237 

vember 5th, he wrote again to the Duke of Milan 
from Beaumont : 

"We went in person with the duke against the 
Liegeois, on account of their rebeUion and offence, 
and the city being reduced by force to the power 
of the duke, we have left him in some part of Liege as 
we were anxious to return to our kingdom of France." 

In January, 1469, Guillaume Toustain, the 
brother of the faithful secretary Aloysius Toustain, 
who had written several of Louis's letters from 
Liege, goes to Pavia to finish his studies, and Louis 
writes to the Duke of Milan asking him to assure 
his protege a pleasant reception in the university. 

The ratification of the treaty took place duly 
at Paris on Saturda}^, November 19th, and the 
king also sternly forbade the circulation of any 
'' paintings, rondels, ballads, songs, or defamatory 
pamphlets" about Charles. ^ The same inform- 
ant tells us that loquacious birds were put under 
a ban. 

"And on the same day in behalf of the king, and by 
virtue of his commission addressed to a young man 
of Paris named Henry Perdriel, all the magpies, jays, 
and chouettes, caged or otherwise, were taken in 
charge, and a record was made of all the places where 
the said birds were taken and also all that they knew 
how to say, like larron, paillart, etc., va hors, vaf Per- 
rette donnes moi a boire, and various other phrases that 
they had been taught." 

Abbe le Grand thinks that "Perrette" was 

1 Jean de Roye, Chronique Scandaleuse, ed. Mandrot, i., 220, 



238 Charles the Bold 

meant for Peronne instead of a mistress of Louis 
of that name. But this conjecture seems the only 
basis for the very deep-rooted tradition that Pe- 
ronne was a word Louis could not bear to have 
uttered. 

"In the way of justice there is nothing going on 
here, [wrote one Anthony de Loisey from Liege to the 
president of Burgundy], except every day they hang 
and draw such Liegeois as are found or have been taken 
prisoners and have no money to ransom themselves. 
The city is well plundered, nothing remains but rub- 
bish. For example I have not been able to find a sheet 
of paper fit for writing to you, but with all my pains 
could get nothing but some leaves from an old book." ^ 

Charles decided that nothing should be left 
standing except churches and ecclesiastical build- 
ings. On November 9th, before the final fires 
were lit, he departed from the wretched town 
and went down the left bank of the Meuse to an 
abbey on the river, where he paused for the 
night. Four leagues distant from the city was 
this place, and from it were plainly visible the 
flames of the burning buildings on that grim St. 
Hubert's Day — a day when Liege had been wont 
to give vent to merriment. 

"From all the dangers that had encompassed 
him, Charles escaped with his life, simply because 
his hour had not yet struck, and because he was 
God's chosen instrument to punish the sinning 
city," is the verdict of one chronicler who does 

1 Comines-Lenglet, iii., 2>^. 



An Easy Victory 239 

not spare his fellow-Liegeois for their follies while 
he profoundly pities their fate.^ 

Out of the many contemporaneous accounts 
a portion of a private letter from the duke's cup- 
bearer to his sister is added: 2 

"Very dear sister, with a very good heart I recom- 
mend myself to you and to all my good friends, men 
and women in our parts, not forgetting my beaux-peres, 
Martin Stephen and Dan Gauthier. Pray know that, 
thanks to God, I and all my people are safe and sound. 
As to my horses, one was wounded and another is sick 
in the hands of the marshals at Namur, and the others 
are thin enough and have no grain to eat except hay. 
The weather, has, indeed, been enough to strike a chill 
to the hearts of men and horses. Since we left Bur- 
gundy there have not been three fine days in suc- 
cession and we are in a worse state than wolves. 

"You already know how we passed through Lor- 
raine and Ratellois without troubling about Salesart 
or other French captains, nor the other Lorrainers 
either, although they were under orders to attack us, 
and were no more afraid of us than we of them. As 
we approached the territory of Hainaut, M. the duke 
sent Messire Pierre de Harquantbault ^ to us to show 
us what road to take. He told us that the duke had 
made a treaty with the king, who had visited him, 
news that filled us with astonishment. . . . 

1 Johannes de Los, Chronicon, p. 60. Quia hora nendum 
venerat. De Ram, "Troubles du pays de Liege." 

2 Commynes-Dupont, Preuves, iii., 242. Letter of Jehan 
de Mazilles to his sister. 

' Hagenbach, later Governor of Alsace. 



240 Charles the Bold 

After skirmishing for several days we reached the 
faubourgs of Liege and remained there three of 
four days under arms, with no sleep and little food, 
and our horses standing in the rain with no shelter 
but the trees. While we were thus lodged, the king 
and the duke with a fair escort arrived and took up 
their ^quarters in certain houses near the faubourg. 
[. . . Constant firing was interchanged for several 
days. Sallies were essayed and men were slain.] 

"Finally a direct attack was made on the king and 
Monseigneur and there were more of their people than 
ours and that night Monseigneur was in great danger. 
The following Sunday at 9 a.m. we began the 
assault in three separate quarters. It was a fine thing 
to see the men-at-arms march on the walls of the said 
city, some climbing and others scaling them with 
ladders. The standards of monseigneur the marshal 
and monsgn. de Renty who had been stationed to- 
gether in the faubourgs, were the first within the said 
city which contained at that moment sixteen to eight- 
een thousand combatants, who were surprised when 
they saw their walls scaled. 

**In a moment we entered crying * Burgundy ' and 
'city gained.' Ever so many of their people were 
slain and drowned in their flight. We flew to reach 
the market-place and the church of St. Lambert where 
a number of prisoners were taken and thrown into the 
water. Our ensign stood in the midst of the fray on 
the market-place, in the hopes that they would rally 
for a combat but they rallied only to flee. While we 
held our position on the square several were created 
knights. . . . All the churches — ^more than four 
hundred — ^were pillaged and plundered. It is rumoured 



An Easy Victory 241 

that they will be burnt together with the rest of 
the city. Piteous it is to see what ill is wrought. . 
. . [The king] stayed in the city with Monseigneur 
two or three days. Then he departed, it is said for 
Brussels to await my said lord. It is a great thing to 
have seen the puissance of my master, which is great 
enough to defeat an emperor. I believe the Burgundians 
will shortly return to Burgundy. 

"I paid my respects to my said lord, who received 
me very well. At present I am listed ^ among those 
whose term is almost expired and I am ready to follow 
him wherever he wishes until my service is out, which 
will be soon. I would have written before had I had 
any one to send it by. Pray write me about your- 
self by the first comer. Praying our Lord, beloved 
sister, to keep you. Written in Liege, November 
8, 1468. 

*'Jehan de Mazilles." 

This sober letter and other accounts by reliable 
witnesses agree as to the terrible havoc wrought 
in the city by the assault on October 30th and 
by determined and systematic measures of destruc- 
tion, both during Charles's ten days' sojourn for the 
express purpose of completing the punishment 
and after his departure. Yet the result assuredly 
fell short of the intention. The destruction was 
not complete as was that of Dinant. Vitality 
remained, apart from the ecclesiastical nucleus 
intentionally preserved by the duke. 

Having watched the tongues of flame lap the 

1 Conte aux escros. This word strictly applies to the pris- 
oners on a jailer's list — evidently used in jest. 

16 



242 Charles the Bold 

unfortunate city, Charles turned with his army 
towards Franchimont, that rugged hill country 
which had proved a nest of hardy and persistent 
antagonists to Burgundian pretensions. Jehan de 
Mazilles is in close attendance and gives further 
details of the pitiless fashion in which Charles 
carried out his purpose of leaving no seed 
of resistance to germinate. Four nights and 
three days they sojourned in a certain little 
village while there was a hard frost and where, 
without unarming, they " slept under the trees 
and drank water." Meantime a small party 
was despatched by the duke to attack the strong- 
hold of Franchimont. The despairing Liegeois 
who had taken refuge there abandoned it, and it 
was taken by assault. A few more days and the 
duke was assured that Liege and her people were 
shorn of their strength. When the remnant of 
survivors began to creep back to the city and 
tried to recover what was left of their property, 
many were the questions to be settled. Lawsuits 
succeeded to turmoils and lingered on for years. 
In the lordly manner of conquerors Charles, too, 
demanded reimbursement for his trouble in bend- 
ing these free citizens to his illegal will. The 
reinstated bishop wanted his rents and legal per- 
quisites, all difficult to collect, and many were the 
ponderous documents that passed on the subject. 
How justly pained sounds Charles's remonstrance 
on the default of payment of taxes to his friend, 
the city's lord! 



An Easy Victory 243 

" Therefore [he writes,] in consideration of these 
things, taking into account the terror of our departure 
to Brussels last January, we decide, my brother and I, 
that the payment of both gahelle and poll tax must be 
forced, and that we cannot permit the retarding of 
such taxes under any colour or pretence. At the 
request of our brother and cousin we order the inhab- 
itants of the said territories to pay both gahelle and 
poll tax, all that is due from the time it was imposed 
and for the time to come, under penalty of the con- 
fiscation of their goods and their persons." 

It was the old story of bricks without straw — 
taxes and rents for property ruthlessly destroyed 
were so easy. To this extent of tyranny had 
Duke Philip never gone, and undoubtedly the 
treatment of Liege was a step towards Charles's 
final disaster. So much hatred was excited against 
him that his adherents fell off one by one when his 
luck began to fail him. 

No omen of misfortune was to be seen at this 
time, however. That month of November saw 
him master absolute wherever he was and he used 
his power autocratically. At Huy, he had a num- 
ber of prisoners executed. At Louvain, at Brussels, 
he gave fresh examples of his relentlessness as an 
overlord. 



CHAPTER XIII 

A NEW ACQUISITION 
1469-1473 

THIS successful expedition against Liege 
carried Charles of Burgundy to the very- 
crest of his prosperity. His self-esteem was 
moreover gratified by the regard shown to him 
at home and abroad. A man who could force 
a royal neighbour into playing the pitiful role 
enacted by Louis XI. at Peronne was assuredly a 
man to be respected if not loved. And messages 
of admiration and respect couched in various 
terms were despatched from many quarters to the 
duke as soon as he was at Brussels to receive them. 

Ghent had long since made apologies for the 
sorry reception accorded to their incoming Count 
of Flanders in 1467, but Charles had postponed 
the formal amende until a convenient moment of 
leisure. January 15, 1469, was finally appointed 
for this ceremony and the occasion was utilised 
to show the duke's grandeur, the city's humilia- 
tion, to as many people as possible who might 
spread the report far and wide. 

It was a Sunday. Out in the courtyard of the 
palace the snow was thick on the ground where a 
group of Ghent burghers cooled their heels for an 
hour and a half, awaiting a summons to the ducal 

244 



A New Acquisition 245 

presence. There, too, where every one could see 
those emblems of the artisans' corporate strength, 
fluttered fifty-two banners unfurled before the 
deans of the Ghentish metiers. ^ 

Within, the great hall of the palace showed a 
splendid setting for a brilliant assembly. The 
most famous Burgundian tapestries hung on the 
walls. Episodes from the careers of Alexander, 
of Hannibal, and of other notable ancients formed 
the background for the duke and his nobles, 
knights of the Golden Fleece, in festal array. As 
spectators, too, there were all the envoys and 
ambassadors then present in Brussels from 
"France, England, Hungary, Bohemia, Naples, 
Aragon, Sicily, Cyprus, Norway, Poland, Den- 
mark, Russia, Livornia, Prussia, Austria, Milan, 
Lombardy, and other places." 

Charles himself was installed grandly on a kind 
of throne, and to his feet Olivier de la Marche. 
conducted the civic procession of penitents. 
Before this pompous gathering, after a statement 
of the city's sin and sorrow, the precious charter 
called the Grand Privilege of Ghent was solemnly 
read aloud, and then cut up into little pieces with 
a pen-knife. Next followed a recitation of the 
penalties imposed upon, and accepted by, the citi- 
zens (closing of the gates, etc)., and then the 
paternal Count of Flanders, duly mollified, pro- 
nounced the fault forgiven with the benediction, 

1 Gachard, Doc. ined., {., 204-209. " Relation de Tassembl^e 
solennelle tenue a Bruxelles le 15 Jan., 1469." 



246 Charles the Bold 

"By virtue of this submission and by keeping 
your promises and being good children, you shall 
enjoy our grace and we will be a good prince." 
*'May our Saviour Jesus Christ confirm and pre- 
serve this peace to the end of this century," is 
the pious ejaculation with which the Relation 
closes. 

Among the witnesses of the above scene, when 
the independent citizens of Ghent meekly posed 
as the duke's children, were envoys from George 
Podiebrad, ex-king of Bohemia. Lately deposed 
by the pope, he was seeking some favourable 
ally who might help him to recover his realm. 
He had conceived a plan for a coalition between 
Bohemia, Poland, Austria, and Hungary to present 
a solid rampart against the Turks, and strong 
enough to dictate to emperor and pope. He 
was ready for intrigue with any power and had 
approached Louis XL and Matthias Corvinus, 
King of Hungary, before turning to Charles of 
Burgundy. ^ 

Meantime, the Emperor Frederic tried to knit 
links with this same Matthias by suggesting that 
he might be the next emperor, assuring him that 
he could count on the support of the electors of 
Mayence, of Treves, and of Saxony. He himself 
was world-weary and was anxious to exchange 
his imperial cares for the repose of the Church 
could he only find a safe guardian for his son, 

1 See Toutey, Charles le Temeraire et la ligue de Constance, 
P- 7- 



A New Acquisition 247 

Maximilian, and a desirable successor fpr himself. 
Would not Matthias consider the two offices ? 

Potent arguments like these induced Matthias 
not only to turn his back on Podiebrad, but to 
accept that deposed monarch's crown which the 
Bohemian nobles offered him May 3,1469. Then 
he proceeded to ally himself with Frederic, elector 
palatine, and with the elector of Bavaria. This 
was the moment when the ex-king of Bohemia 
made renewed offers of friendly alliance to Charles 
of Burgundy. In his name the Sire de Stein 
brought the draft of a treaty of amity to Charles 
which contained the provision that Podiebrad 
should support the election of Charles as King of 
the Romans, in consideration of the sum of two 
hundred thousand florins (Rhenish) . ^ 

This modest sum was to secure not only Podie- 
brad 's own vote but his "influence" with the 
Archbishop of Mayence, the Elector of Saxony 
and the Margrave of Brandenburg. 2 While 
Podiebrad thus dangled the ultimate hopes of 
the imperial crown before the duke's eyes, he 
over-estimated his credulity. As a matter of 
fact the royal exile had no "influence" at all 
with the first named elector, and the last, too, 
showed no disposition whatsoever to serve his 
unstable policy. Both were content to advise 
Emperor Frederic. The sole result of the empty 

1 Seethe text given in Comines-Lenglet, iii., ii6. Charles 
is characterised as ducem strenuum in armis ac justiticB 
prcBcipium zelatorem. 

2 See Toutey, p. 8; also Lavisse, iv"., 371, 



248 Charles the Bold 

overtures was to increase Charles's own sense of 
importance. 

Another negotiation which sought him unasked 
had, however, a material influence on the course 
of events, and must be touched on in some detail. 
Sigismund of Austria — first duke then archduke, 
— Count of Tyrol, cousin of the Emperor Frederic, 
was a member of the House of Habsburg. In 
1449, he had married Eleanor of Scotland, and 
became brother-in-law of Louis during the term 
of the dauphin's first marriage. An indolent, 
extravagant prince, he was greatly dominated by 
his courtiers. His heritage as Count of Tyrol in- 
cluded certain territories lying far from his capital, 
Innsbruck. Certain portions of Upper Alsace, 
lands on both sides of the Rhine, Thurgau, Argau 
in Switzerland, Breisgau, and some other seignior- 
ies in the Black Forest were under his sway. 

These particular domains were so remote from 
Innsbruck that the authority of the hereditary 
overlord had long been eluded. The nobles pil- 
laged the land near their castles very much at 
their own sweet will. The harassed burghers ap- 
pealed to the Alsatian Decapole,^ and again to the 
free Swiss cantons for protection, and sometimes 
obtained more than they wanted. 

Mulhouse was seriously affected by these law- 
less depredations. To her, Berne promised aid 
in a twenty-five years' alliance signed in 1466, and 

1 Thus was named the assembly of ten Alsatian towns from 
Strasburg to Basel, organised into a half independent confed- 
eration by the Emperor Charles IV, 



A New Acquisition 249 

at Berne's insistanx:e the cowardly nobles restrained 
their license. But when the city attempted to 
extend its authority Sigismund interfered. Hav- 
ing no army, however, he could not recover Walds- 
hut, which the Swiss claimed a right to annex, 
except by offering ten thousand florins for the 
town's ransom. Poor in cash as he was in men, 
he had, however, no means to pay this ransom 
and begged aid in every direction. Moreover, he 
feared further aggressions from the cantons, which 
were growing more daring. What man in Europe 
was better able to teach them a lesson than Charles, 
the destroyer of Liege, the stern curber of undue 
liberty in Flanders? Was he not the very person 
to tame insolent Swiss cowherds ? 

In the course of the year 1468, Sigismund made 
known to Charles his desire for a bargain, intimating 
that in case of the duke's refusal, he would carry his 
wares to Louis XI. At that moment, Charles was 
busied with Liege and showed no interest in Sigis- 
mund's proposition. The latter tried to see Louis 
XL personally in accordance with his imperial 
cousin's advice that an interview might be more 
effective than a letter. 

It did not prove a propitious time, however; 
Louis was deeply engaged with Burgundy and he 
was not disposed to take any steps that might 
estrange the Swiss — and any espousal of Sigismund 's 
interests might alienate them. He did not even 
permit an opening to be made, but stopped Sigis- 
mund 's approach to him by a message that he 



250 Charles the Bold 

would not for a moment entertain a suggestion 
inimical to those dear friends of his in the can- 
tons — a sentiment that quickly found its way to 
Switzerland. 

Thus stayed in his effort to win Louis's ear, 
Sigismund decided that he would make another 
essay towards a Burgundian alliance, this time 
face to face with the duke. On to Flanders he 
journeyed and found Charles in the midst of 
the ostentatious magnificence already described. 
Ordinary affairs of life were conducted with a 
splendour hardly attained by the emperor in the 
most pompous functions of his court. Sigismund 
was absolutely dazzled by the evidence of easy 
prosperity. The fact that a maiden was the duke's 
sole heiress led the Austrian to conceive the not 
unnatural idea that this attractive Burgundian 
wealth might be turned into the impoverished 
imperial coffers by a marriage between Mary of 
Burgundy and Maximilian, the emperor's son. 

The visitor not only thought of this possibility, 
but he immediately broached it to Charles. The 
bait was swallowed. As to the main proposition 
which Sigismund had come expressly to make, 
that, too, was not rejected. The duke perceived 
that the transfer of the Rhenish lands to his juris- 
diction might militate to his advantage. A passage 
would be opened towards the south for his troops 
without the need of demanding permission from 
any reluctant neighbour. The risk of trouble with 
the Swiss did not affect him when weighing the 




MARY OF BURGUNDY 
FROM CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE REPRODUCED IN BARANTE, " LES DUCS DE BOURGOGNE' 



A New Acquisition 251 

advantages of Sigismund's proffer, a proffer which 
he finally decided to accept. Probably he found 
his guest a pleasant party to a bargain, for not 
only did he broach the tempting alliance between 
Mary and Maxim lian, but he, too, seems to have 
hinted that the title of "King of the Romans" 
might be added to the long list of appellations 
already signed by Charles. ^ As Sigismund was 
richer in kin, if not in coin, than the feeble Podie- 
brad, Charles gave serious heed to the suggestion 
which fell incidentally from his guest's lips, in 
the course of the long conversations held at 
Bruges. 

Certain precautions were taken to protect 
Charles from being dragged into Swiss complica- 
tions against his will, and then in May, 1469, the 
treaty of St. Omer was signed, 2 wherein the Duke 
of Burgundy accorded his protection to Sigismund 
of Austria and received from him all his seigniorial 
rights within certain specified territories. 

The most important part of this cession com- 
prised Upper Alsace and the county of Ferrette, 
but there were also many other fragments of 
territory and rights of seigniory involved, besides 
lordship over various Rhenish cities, such as 
Rheinfelden, Saeckingen, Lauffenburg, Waldshut 
and Brisac. This last named town commanded 
the route eastward, as Waldshut that to the south- 

1 Toutey, p. ii. 

2 See "Pontes Rerum Austriacarum " Chmel, J., Urkunden 
zur Geschichte von Osterreich, etc., 11^, 223 et passim. One 
document, p. 229, has Marz as a misprint for Mai. 



252 Charles the Bold 

east, and Thann the highway through the Vosges 
region. 

Fifty thousand florins was the price for the pro- 
perty and the claims transferred from Sigismund 
to Charles. Ten thousand were to be paid at once, 
in order to ransom Waldshut from the Swiss. The 
remainder was due on September 24th. On his 
part, Sigismund specifically recognised the duke's 
right to redeem all domains nominally his but 
mortgaged for the time being, certain estates or 
seignorial rights having been thus alienated for 
150 years. 

This territorial transfer was not a sale. It was 
a mortgage, but a mortgage with possession to the 
mortgagee and further restricted by the provision 
that there could be no redemption unless the 
mortgager could repay at Besangon the whole loan 
plus all the outlay made by the mortgagee up to 
that date. Instalment payments were expressly 
ruled out. The entire sum intact was made oblig- 
atory. Therefore the danger of speedy redemp- 
tion did not disquiet Charles. He knew the man 
he had to deal with. Sigismund 's lack of fore- 
sight and his prodigality were notorious. There 
was faint chance that he could ever command the 
amount in question. Accordingly, Charles was 
fairly justified in counting the mortgaged territory 
as annexed to Burgundy in perpetuity. 

Sigismund pocketed his fiorins eagerly. Nothing 
could have been more welcome to him. But this 
relief from the pressure of his pecuniary embarrass- 



A New Acquisition 253 

merit did not inspire him with love for the man 
who held his lost lands. His sentiments towards 
Charles were very similar to those of an heir to- 
wards a usurer who has helped him in a tempor- 
ary strait by mulcting him of his natural rights. 

As for the emperor, when this transfer of ter- 
ritory was an accomplished fact, he began to take 
fright at the consequences. He did not like this 
intrusion of a powerful French peer into the im- 
perial circle. ^ At the same time he was ready to 
make him share responsibility in any further 
difficulties that might arise between Sigismund 
and the Swiss. 

The least skilful of prophets could have foreseen 
difficulties for Charles on his own account, both 
foreign and domestic. His own relations with the 
Swiss had always been friendly enough, but he had 
never before been so near a neighbour, while, within 
the Rhine lands, it was an open question whether 
the bartered inhabitants were to enjoy or regret 
their new tie with Burgundy. The importance of 
their sentiments was a matter of as supreme in- 
difference to Charles as was danger from the Con- 
federation. Neither conciliation nor diplomacy 
was in his thoughts. He had no conception of the 
intricacies of the situation. He counted the land- 
graviate as definitely his by the treaty of St. Omer 
as Brabant by heritage or Liege by conquest. 

» Charles was, to be sure, already within that circle for some 
of his Netherland provinces, but his feudal obligations there 
were very shadowy. 



254 Charles the Bold 

The need of a kindly policy towards the little valley 
towns — a policy that might have won their alle- 
giance — never occurred to him. They were his 
property and Peter von Hagenbach was, in course 
of time, made lieutenant-governor in his behalf. 

Apart from all personal considerations of 
enmity and amity of natives and neighbours, the 
territory of Upper Alsace and the county of Fer- 
rette, delivered from needy Austria to rich Bur- 
gundy, like a coat pawned by a poor student, was 
held under very complex and singular conditions. ^ 
The status of the bargain between Sigismund and 
Charles was in point of fact something between 
pawn and sale, according to the point of view. 
Sigismund fully intended to redeem it, while 
Charles did not admit that possibility as remotely 
contingent. Nor was that the only peculiarity. The 
itemised list of the ceded territories as given in 
the treaty was far from telling the facts of the 
possessions passing to Sigismund's proxy. 

In the first place the Austrian seigniories were 
not compact. They were scattered here and there 
in the midst of lands ruled by others, as the Bishop 
of Strasburg, the Abbe of St. Blaise in the Black 
Forest, the count Palatine, the citizens of Basel 
and of Mulhouse, and others. 

1 See Toutey, Lavisse, etc., and above all a valuable article 
by L. Stouff, entitled "Les Possessions Bourguignonnes 
dans la valine du Rhin sous Charles le Tem6raire," Annales 
de I'Est, vol. i8. This article is the result of a careful 
examination of the reports made by Poinsot and Pellet, 
Charles's commissioners. 



A New Acquisition 255 

The existent variety in the extent and nature 
of Austrian title was extraordinary. Nearly every 
possible combination of dismembered prerogative 
and actual tenure had resulted from the long series 
of ducal compositions. In some localities a toll or 
a quit-rent was the sole cession, and again a toll or a 
prerogative was almost the only residue remain- 
ing to the ostensible overlord, while all his former 
property or transferable birthright privileges 
were lodged in various hands on divers tenures. 
There were cases in whicli the mortgagee — noble, 
burgher, or municipal corporation — ^had taken 
the exact place of the Austrian duke and in so 
doing had become the vassal of his debtor, 
stripped of all vested interest but his sovereignty. 
For in these bargains wherein elements of the 
Roman contract and feudal customs were curi- 
ously blended, two classes of rights had been in- 
variably reserved by the ducal mortgagers : 

(i) Monopolies, regal in nature, such as assured 
free circulation on the highways, the old Roman 
roads, all jurisdiction of passports and travellers' 
protection. 

(2) The suzerainty. This comprised the power 
to confer fiefs, of requisition of military service, 
of requesting aids and admission to strongholds, 
cities, or castles, le droit de forteresse jurable et 
rendable. 

In these regards the compact between Charles 
and Sigismund differed from all previous covenants 
not only in degree, but in kind. The Duke of 



2^6 Charles the Bold 

Burgundy entered into the sovereign as well as 
into the mangled, maimed, and curtailed pro- 
prietary rights of the hereditary over-lord. 

In his assumption of this involved and doubtful 
property, Charles laid heavy responsibilities on 
his shoulders. The actual price of fifty thousand 
gold florins paid to Sigismund was a mere fraction 
of the pecuniary obligations incurred, while the 
weight of care was difficult to gauge. He succeeded 
to princes weak, frivolous, prodigal, whose misrule 
had long been a curse to the land. The incur- 
sions of the Swiss, the repeated descents of the 
Rhine nobles from their crag-lodged strongholds 
to pillage and destroy, terrified merchants and 
plunged peaceful labourers into misery. 

Through hatred of the absentee Austrians, the 
neighbouring cities repeatedly became the accom- 
plices of these brigands, affording them asylums 
for refitting and free passage when they were 
laden with evident booty. 

In all departments of finance and administration 
disorder prevailed. The chief officials, castellans 
and councillors, enjoyed high salaries for neglected 
duties. The castles were in wretched repair and 
there were insufficient troops to guard the roads. 
There was no dependence upon the receipts nom- 
inally to be expected. In the sub-mortgaged 
lands, the lords simply levied what they could, 
without the slightest responsibility for the order 
of the domain ; they did not hesitate to charge their 



A New Acquisition 257 

suzerain for repairs never made, confident that no 
one would verify their declaration. 

In the territories of the immediate domain, the 
Austrian dukes and their officials had no notion 
of the rigid system maintained in Burgundy. 
Only here and there can little memoranda be 
found and these are confused and obscure. There 
is a dearth of accurate records like those volumin- 
ous registers of outlays kept by Burgundian re- 
ceivers, registers so rich in detail that they are 
more valuable for the historian than any chronicle. 

Exact appraisal of the resources of these pays 
de par de Ih was very difficult. Between 1469 
and 1473 there were three efforts to obtain reliable 
information by means of as many successive com- 
missions despatched to the Rhine valley by the 
Duke of Burgundy. 

Envoys drew up minutes of their observations 
in addition to their official reports and all were 
preserved in the archives. As these were written 
from testimony gathered on the spot, such as the 
accounts of the receivers now lost, etc., there is 
real value in the documents. 

The first commission in behalf of Burgundy 
was composed of two Germans and three Walloons. 
One of the former was Peter von Hagenbach, 
who won no enviable reputation in the later exer- 
cise of his office as lieutenant-governor of the 
annexed region, to which he was shortly after- 
wards appointed. This first commission entered 
into formal possession in Charles's name and 



258 Charles the Bold 

instituted some desired reforms immediately, 
such as policing the highways, etc. 

The second commission made its visit in 147 1. 
It consisted of Jean Pellet, treasurer of Vesoul, and 
Jean Poinsot, procureur-general of Amont. 

The third commission (1473) was under the 
auspices of Monseigneur Coutault, master of ac- 
counts at Dijon. He carried with him the report 
of his predecessors and made his additions 
thereto. 

Charles's directions to Poinsot and Pellet (June 
13, 147 1) were vague and general. They were 
"to see the conduct of his affairs" (voir la conduite 
de ses affaires). The important point was to find 
out how much revenue could be obtained. As the 
duke's plan of expansion grew larger he had need 
of all his resources. 

The reports were eminently discouraging. Out- 
lay was needed everywhere — ^income was small. 
As the chances of peculation diminished, the cas- 
tellans deserted their posts and left the castles 
to decay. The Burgundian commission of 147 1 
found the difficulties of their exploration increased 
by two items. Charles had not advanced an 
allowance for their expenses and they were anx- 
ious to be back at Vesoul by Michaelmas, the 
date of the change in municipal offices and of ap- 
propriations for the year. It was in hopes of 
receiving advance moneys that they delayed in 
starting, but the approaching election and coming 
winter finally decided them to set out, pay their 



A New Acquisition 259 

own expenses, and complete the business as rapidly 
as they could in a fortnight. 

The summary of this report of 147 1 was that 
there was little present prospect that Charles would 
be able to reimburse himself for- his necessary ex- 
penses. An undue portion of authority and of 
revenue was legally lodged in alien hands. Charles 
was possessed of germs of rights rather than of 
actual rights. The earlier creditors of Austria held 
all the best mortgages with their attendant emolu- 
ments. The immediate profits accruing to the 
Duke of Burgundy fell far short of the minimum 
necessary to disburse to keep his government, his 
strongholds, his highways in repair. Very dis- 
turbed were the good treasurer of Vesoul and the 
procureur-general of Amont at this state of affairs, 
and distressed at the prospect of the ampler 
receipts from Burgundy being required to relieve 
the pressing necessities of the poor territories de 
par de Ih. 

To avoid this contingency, the commissioners 
recommended the duke to redeem all the existing 
mortgages great and small. It would cost 140,000 
florins, but the revenue would at once increase 
with the new security which would immediately 
follow under firm Burgundian rule. Sole mas- 
ter, Charles could then enforce obedience from 
nobles and cities and better conditions would be 
inaugurated. 

Evidently this rational advice was not taken, 
for it is repeated by Coutault in 1473. Redemp- 



26o Charles the Bold 

tion of the mortgages, " if your affairs can afford 
it," is the counsel given by the chamber of ac- 
counts at Dijon, though this sage board adds that 
they were well aware that in the previous month 
Monseigneur could not put his hands on a hun- 
dred florins to redeem one wretched little gagerie. 
• The native coffers of the region did not suffice to 
settle the salaries of the officers in charge. 

Such then was the new acquisition of Charles 
after four years of his administration. Peter 
von Hagenbach, his deputy in charge of this un- 
remunerative territory, is a character painted 
in the darkest colours by all historians. It is 
more than probable that his unpopular efforts 
to make bricks without straw were largely 
responsible for his unenviable reputation. 
Ground between the upper and lower mill- 
stones of Charles's clamours for revenues and 
popular clamours that the people had nothing 
wherewith to pay, Hagenbach developed into a 
taskmaster of the hardest and most unpitying 
type, who made himself thoroughly hated by the 
people he was set to rule. 

It must be remembered that there was no cleft 
in nationality or in language between governor 
and governed. He was not a foreigner set over 
them. He was one of them raised to a high posi- 
\ tion. There was then no French element in 

/ Lower Alsace. It was then German pure and 

simple. 




J.£esfonJkl^ 



UPPER ALSACE AND ADJACENT TERRITORY 
BY PERMISSION OF HACHETTE, 1902 



CHAPTER XIV 

ENGLISH AFFAIRS 
I470-1471 

IN order to follow out the extension of Bur- 
gundian jurisdiction in one direction, the 
course of events in the duke's life has been antici- 
pated a little. The thread of the story now returns 
to 1469, when Charles and Sigismund separated 
at St. Omer both well pleased with their bargain. 
Charles tarried for a time at Ghent and Bruges and 
then proceeded to Zealand and Holland, where his 
sojourn had been interrupted in 1468 by his alarm 
about French duplicity. In the glow caused by 
his past achievements, his present reputation, and 
future prospects, Charles of Burgundy was in a 
mood to prove to his sub j ects his excellence as a 
paternal ruler. Wherever he paused on his journey 
easy access was permitted to his presence and he 
was lavish in the time given to receiving petitions 
from the humblest plaintiff. The following grue- 
some incident is an illustration of the summary 
methods attributed to him.^ 

Shortly before the ducal visit to Middelburg, the 
governor, a man of noble birth, a knight, fell in 

1 Meyer is the earliest historian to tell this story and it is 
vouched for by no existing contemporary evidence. 

261 



262 Charles the Bold 

love with a married woman who indignantly repu- 
diated his advances. In revenge the governor had 
the husband arrested on a charge of high treason. 
The wife, left without a protector, continued 
obdurate to the knight until the alternative of her 
husband's release or his death was offered her as 
the reward for accepting the governor's base suit 
or as the penalty of her refusal. She chose to 
redeem the prisoner. Having paid the price she 
went to the prison and was led to her husband 
truly, but he lay dead and in his coffin! 

When the Duke of Burgundy was once within 
the Zealand capital, this injured woman hastened 
to throw herself at his feet, a petitioner for justice. 
He heard her complaint and straightway sum- 
moned the ex-governor to his presence. The ac- 
cused confessed that he had been carried away 
by his adoration for the woman, reminded Charles 
of his long and faithful devotion to the late duke 
and to himself, and offered any possible reparation 
for his crime. The duke ordered him to marry his 
victim. The widow was horrified at the suggestion , 
but was forced by her family to accept it. After 
the nuptial benediction, the knight again appeared 
before Charles to assure him that the plaintiff was 
satisfied. ''She, yes," replied the duke coldly, 
"but not I." He remanded the bridegroom to 
prison, had him shriven and executed all within an 
hour. Then the bride was summoned and shown 
her second husband in his coffin as she had seen her 
first, and on the same spot. " It was a penalty 



English Affairs 263 

that hit the innocent as well as the guilty, for the 
plaintiff died from the double shock." 

The duke, satisfied with his rigour, went on to 
Holland. Everywhere he evinced himself equally 
uncompromising towards the nobles, amiable 
and considerate towards the lower classes and 
humble folk. Various other stories related about 
him at this epoch are difficult to accept as au- 
thentic, for the main detail has appeared at other 
times under different guises. Wandering tales 
seem to alight, like birds of passage, on successive 
people in lands and epochs widely apart, mere 
hallmarks of certain characteristics re-embodied. 

The Hague was the duke's headquarters during 
two months, and there also he held open court and 
gave audience to many embassies in the midst of 
his administrative work pertaining to Holland 
and its nearest neighbours. He took measures to 
recover what he claimed had been usurped by 
Utrecht, and he initiated proceedings to make 
good the title of Lord of Friesland, that will-o'-the 
wisp to successive Counts of Holland and never 
acknowledged by the Frisians. In efforts to weld 
together the various provinces the months passed, 
until a new turn of foreign events began to absorb 
the duke's whole attention. 

The details of English politics with all the rea- 
sons for revolution and counter-revolution involved 
in the complicated civil disorders, the Wars of 
the Roses, affected Charles's policy but they can 
only be suggested in his biography. It must be 



264 Charles the Bold 

remembered that the modern impression of English 
stabiHty and French fickleness in political insti- 
tutions, an impression casting reflections direct 
and indirect upon literature as well as history, is 
based on the changes in France from 1789 down 
to the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century. 
Quite the reverse is the earlier tradition based on 
the kaleidoscopic shifts familiar to several genera- 
tions of observers in the fifteenth century^ ; stable 
and firm felt the French as they heard the tidings 
of the brief triumphs of belligerent factions across 
the Channel. 

Since 1461 , Henry VI. of the House of Lancaster 
had been a passive prisoner, while Margaret of 
Anjou had exhausted herself in efforts to win 
adherents at home and abroad for her captive 
husband and her exiled son. 2 In 1463, she had re- 
ceived some aid, some encouragement from Philip 
of Burgundy, although he had recognised Edward 
IV. as king and although, too, his personal sympa- 
thies were Yorkish rather than Lancastrian. 

It was Charles who escorted the errant lady into 
Lille, but later the duke himself entertained her 
munificently. The poverty-stricken exile prob- 

»From Henry VI. -Henry VII. the English throne was twice 
lost and twice regained by each of the rival Houses of York 
and Lancaster. Thirteen pitched battles were fought between 
Englishmen on English soil. Three out of four kings died by 
violence. Eighty persons connected with the blood royal 
were executed or assassinated. 

2 Ramsay, Lancaster and York, ii., 232 et seq.; Oman, Hun- 
dred Years' War and Warwick, the King-maker, are followed 
here in addition to Kirk, Lavisse, etc. 



English Affairs 265 

ably found the accompanying ducal gifts more 
to the immediate purpose than the ducal feasts. 
Two thousand gold crowns were bestowed upon 
herself, a hundred upon each of her ladies, while 
various Lancastrian nobles were tided over hard 
times by useful sums of money. 

Pleasant though the recognition was, however, 
the pecuniary assistance was quite insufficient 
to accomplish Margaret's purpose. For nine years 
Edward IV. sat on his throne and no serious efforts 
were made to dislodge him. As he never forgot 
his mother's lineage, the sympathies of Charles of 
Burgundy were with the exiles, and Queen Mar- 
garet may have counted confidently on that sym- 
pathy proving valuable for her son as soon as 
Charles himself had a free hand. But when he 
came into his heritage, his marriage with Mar- 
garet of York put a definite end to those hopes. 
The new duke thereby declared his acceptance 
of the king whom the Earl of Warwick had seated 
upon the English throne. Then came clashing 
of wills between that king and his too powerful 
subject-adviser. 1 To punish his unruly royal 
protege, Warwick turned his attention to the 
Duke of Clarence, brother and heir presumptive 
to Edward IV. A marriage was planned be- 
tween this possible future monarch and the earl's 
eldest daughter and then quickly celebrated 

1 That the king chose his wife without the earl's knowledge 
or consent has been accepted as the chief cause, and again 
denied by various authorities. 



266 Charles the Bold 

at Calais without the king's knowledge (July, 
1469). 

In the same summer occurred a rising in York- 
shire, possibly instigated by Warwick.^ The mal- 
contents, sixty thousand strong, declared that 
the king was giving ear to base counsellors and 
must be coerced into better ways. An attempt 
to suppress this revolt by the royal troops resulted 
in a pitched battle where Earl Rivers, the father 
of Elizabeth Woodville, the young queen, was 
taken prisoner and beheaded. 

Edward, baffled, finally turned for aid to War- 
wick. Over the Channel hastened the earl and his 
new son-in-law, levied troops, met the king at 
Olney, and — Edward found himself if not exactly 
a prisoner, at least under restraint. Two sover- 
eigns — both without power even over their own 
actions, — such was the situation in England at the 
end of 1469, when Charles of Burgundy was self- 
complacently regarding Louis XL as a foe con- 
vinced of his own inferiority. 

A menacing letter from this redoubtable ducal 
brother-in-law was probably the reason why Ed- 
ward IV. was set at liberty, and why a recon- 
ciliation was patched up between him and his 
councillor, with full pardon for Warwick's adher- 
ents. But it was short-lived. A fresh outbreak in 
March, 1470, made another change. Warwick and 
Clarence sided with the rebels, the king was vic- 
torious, and his unfaithful friend and brother were 

» See Oman's Warwick, p. 185. 



English Affairs 267 

again forced to flee under a shower of menaces 
hurled after them. 

"But, and He [Clarence] or Richart Erie of War- 
rewyk our Rebell and Traytour come into oure seid 
Land we woll . . . that ye doo Hym and Theym to 
be arrested ... He that Taketh and Bryngeth unto 
Us either of theym, he shal have for his Reward C./ of 
Land in Yerely Value to Hym and to his Heyres or 
Mil. Lib in Redy money at his election."^ 

Such was the proclamation issued on March 
2 2d by the king himself at York. 

Between Edward and Charles a new link had 
just been forged in the chain of friendship. The 
Order of the Garter is thus acknowledged by the 
duke: 

"We have to-day received from our much honoured 
seigneur and brother, the king of England, his Order 
of the Garter together with the mantle and other 
ornaments and things appertaining to the said Order 
and have . . . taken the oath according to the 
statutes of the Order. 

"Done in our city of Ghent under our Grand Seal, 
February 4, 1469 [O. S.]."2 

Now it was in consideration of needs that might 
arise in the near future, following on the trail 
of these wide-reaching English convulsions, that 
Charles felt it necessary to make preparations for 

iRymer, Foedera, xi., 654; negotiations had been going on 
for about a year. 
2/6i(i., 651. 



268 Charles the Bold 

a strong military defence calculated to suit any 
emergency. Louis XI. had a permanent force at 
his command. He had made the beginning of the 
French standing army, the nucleus of one of 
those bodies that have ever since urged each 
other on to expensive growth from opposite sides 
of European frontiers. What one monarch pos- 
sessed that must his near neighbour have. 

Feudal service, volunteer militia, paid mercena- 
ries, were all alike unstable bulwarks for a nation. 
Nation as yet Charles had not, but he wanted to 
be betimes with his bulwarks. This was why he 
issued an ordinance for the levy of a thousand 
lances, amounting to five thousand combatants, 
to be paid with regular wages and kept ready at 
call under officers of his own appointment. The 
ducal treasury could not stand the whole expense. 
To meet the deficit, Charles asked from his Nether- 
land Estates an annual subsidy of 120,000 crowns 
for three years. Power to impose taxes he had 
none. A request to each individual province was 
all the requisition that he could make. 

In this case, most of the provinces approached 
had acceded to the demand, when the Estates of 
Flanders convened at Lille. Here the Chancellor 
of Burgundy expounded to them the grounds of 
the demand, and then the session was changed to 
Bruges, where they debated on the merits of the 
request, urged on further by explanatory letters 
from Charles. Finally, a deputation was ap- 
pointed by the Estates to go over to Ghent and 



English Affairs 269 

present a Remonstrance to their impatient sover- 
eign beggar. 

Three points were set forth. The deputies 
objected to this grant being asked only from the 
lands de par de ga — ^the Netherlands and not from 
the Burgundies. Secondly, they wished a definite 
assessment imposed on each province. Thirdly, 
they desired a declaration that the fiefs and arriere- 
fiefs already bound to furnish troops should be 
exempt from share in this tax. The remonstrance 
was courtly in tone. Written in French, the con- 
cluding phrases were in Latin and suggested that 
nothing was more becoming a prince than clem- 
ency, especially towards his subjects. ^ 

Vigorous and emphatic was the prince's 
response.2 How could Burgundy furnish money? 
It is a poor land. It takes after Prance.^ But 
its men make a third of the army. They are the 
Burgundian contribution. As to an assessment, 
what is the use unless the tax is surely to be paid ? 
Only out of malice is this idle point suggested. 

"You act as you have always done — you Flem- 
ings. Neither to my father nor to me have you ever 
been liberal. What you have granted — sometimes 
more than our request — has always been given so 
tardily as to prove the lack of good will. Your Flemish 

» " Quia nihil est quod ita relucet in principe sicut clemencia 
et maxime circa domesticos et subditos." 

2 Gachard, Doc. ined., i., 216. The editor thinks that the 
speech was preserved in the register of Ypres just as it was 
delivered, untouched by chroniclers. 

3 II sent la France, 



270 Charles the Bold 

skulls are hard and thick and you cling to your stub- 
born and perverse opinions. ... I am half of 
France and half of Portugal and I know how to meet 
such heads as yours, ay and will do it. You have al- 
ways either hated or despised your prince — if pow- 
erful you hated, if weak you despised. I prefer your 
hatred to your contempt. Not for your privileges or 
anything else will I permit myself to be trampled on — 
and I have the power to prevent such trampling." 

Laying stress on the extreme modesty of his 
demand, whose purpose mainly was for defence of 
Flanders, the duke proceeded to berate his visitors 
soundly for their presumptuous haggling, declaring 
that as to the fiefs and arriere-fiefs he would see to 
it that no double burdens were borne. 

"And when you shall have determined to accord 
my request, — ^which you will assuredly do (and I do 
not mean to burden you further unless I am forced 
to it) , — send some of your deputies after me to Lille or 
St. Omer, and there, with my chancellor and my coun- 
cil, I will determine the apportionraent and we will 
speak also of other matters touching my province of 
Flanders." 

It was this vehement oratory — and this vehe- 
mence was repeated on many occasions — ^that did 
more to alienate Charles from his hereditary sub- 
jects than his actual demands. There is little 
doubt that his period of residence in their midst 
brought with it hatred rather than liking. No 
political error of his serves to explain the Flemish 
attitude towards the duke as does his method of 



English Affairs 271 

address, the gratuitous contempt displayed to- 
wards burghers whose purses were needed for his 
game. The aide was granted, indeed, but it was 
levied with sullen reluctance. 

What cause Charles had to make his prepara- 
tions, what were the proceedings of the English 
exiles may be seen from the following letters to his 
mother and to the town of Ypres. The first is 
probably in answer to her questionings ; the second 
is a specimen of the epistles showered upon the 
border towns. 

** To MY VERY REDOUBTABLE LadY AND MoTHER, 

Madame the Duchess, at Aire: 
*'May it please you to know that in regard to what 
the Sgr. de Crevecoeur has written you about the 
king's proclamations that he intends to maintain his 
treaties and promises to me, etc., and has no desire 
to sustain the Earl of Warwick, and wishes my subjects 
to be reimbursed for the damages inflicted by him and 
his, assuredly, my Lady and Mother, the contrary 
has been and is well known before the said publica- 
tions and after. The Earl of Warwick is my foe and 
could not, according to the treaty existing between 
the king and me, be received in Normandy or else- 
where in the realm . . . [complaints about the 
procedure have been sent to king and parliament and 
councillors, without redress, etc.] What is more, the 
Admiral of France has sent thither a spy under pretext 
of carrying a letter to Sgr. de la Groothuse, which 
man was charged to spy upon my ships and by means 
of a caravel named the Brunette, sent for this purpose 
by the admiral, to cut the cables to set them adrift 



2 72 Charles the Bold 

and founder — or to capture certain ships with such 
captains, knights, and gentlemen as he could find, 
and myself, too, if they were able. 

"Furthermore, the said spy was charged to spy 
on my towns, etc., and those of the caravel called 
the Brunette were charged, if they failed in taking 
my ships, or in cutting their cables, to set fire to them 
— all in direct conflict with the terms of the treaties, 
and procedures that the king would never have toler- 
ated had he had the slightest intention of maintaining 
his word . . . [Charles does not consider Groothuse 
to blame at all, etc.] ^ 

Letter from Charles of Burgundy to the Magistrates 
of Ypres, June lo, 14^/0 

"Dear Friends: 

"It has come to your knowledge how after the 
Duke of Clarence and the Earl of Warwick were ex- 
pelled from England on account of their sedition and 
their ill deeds, they have declared themselves both 
by words and deeds of aggression our enemies, and 
on Vendredi ahsolut ^ went so far as to capture by fraud 
ships and property belonging to our subjects, and 
have further done damage whenever opportunity 
presented itself. 

" In order to repel them we have ordered them to be 
attacked on the sea. Moreover, at the same time 
we were advised that the same Clarence and Warwick 
and their people, after they were routed at sea by the 

1 Middleburg, the 3d of June, 1470. " Madame's sign 
manual " on the copy is dated June 6th. (Plancher, Histoire 
generate et particuUere de Bourgogne, etc., iv., cclxxi). 

2 Good Friday, April 20th. 



English Affairs 273 

troops of my honoured lord and brother, Edward, King 
of England, retreated to the marches of Normandy 
and were honourably received at Honfleur by the 
Admiral of France with all which they had saved 
from the raid on our subjects after the defeat. 

"All this was direct infringement of the treaties 
lately made between Monseigneur the king and my- 
self. Therefore, we wrote at once to Monsgr. the king 
begging him not to favour or aid the said Clarence 
and Warwick in his land of Normandy or elsewhere 
in his realm, nor to permit them to sell or distribute 
the property of our subjects, and to show his will by 
publishing such prohibitions throughout Normandy 
and elsewhere where need is. 

"Also we wrote to the court of parliament at Paris, 
and to the council of my said seigneur at Rouen. The 
answer was that the king meant to keep the treaty 
between him and us and had ordered his subjects 
in Normandy not to retain the property belonging to 
our subjects . . . but we have since learned 
that, notwithstanding, this same property has been 
distributed and ransoms have been negotiated in the 
sight and knowledge of the Admiral of France and his 
officers. 

"Moreover, it is perfectly evident that by means 
of the aid furnished by the king to the said Clarence 
and Warwick, the latter are enabled to continue the 
war on our subjects and not on the English, it being 
understood that they who were banished from Eng- 
land are not strong enough to return by the force 
of arms but must do so by friendship and favour. 
. . . On account of the above and other depreda- 
tions, we shall attack the said Warwick and Clarence 
on the sea as pirates, and all who aid them as is 



2 74 Charles the Bold 

needful for the protection of our lands and subjects. 
"Written at Middelburgin Zealand, June 20, 1470."^ 

"Tell Monsieur de Warwick that the king will assist 
him to recover England either with the help of Queen 
Margaret or by whatever other means he may pro- 
pose. . . . Only let him communicate his de- 
sires in this respect as speedily as possible and the 
king will lay aside all other affairs for the purpose of 
accomplishing it," 

wrote the complaisant King of Prance in his 
directions to the confidential messenger sent to 
discuss matters with the English earl. 2 

But that was not his language towards his 
cousin of Burgundy, whom he assured that there 
should be no infringement of their treaty, and that 
it was greatly to his royal displeasure that Flemish 
property captured at sea in defiance of that treaty 
should be sold in French market-places. There 
is a hot correspondence, 2 that is, it is hot on 
the side of Charles, while Louis's phrases are 
smoothly surprised at there being any cause for 
dissatisfaction. The circumstances shall be inves- 
tigated, his cousin satisfied, etc. One letter from 
the duke to two of Louis's council is emphatic in 
its expressions of doubt as to the good faith of 
these royal statements : 

"Archbishop and you Admiral: 

"The vessels which you assure me are destined by 

1 Gachard, Doc. ined., i., 226. 

2 Comines-Lenglet., "Preuves, " iii., 124. Written at Am- 
boise, May, 12, 1470. 3 Plancher, iv., cclxi., etc. 



English Affairs 275 

the king for an attack on England have attempted 
nothing except against my subjects; but, by St. 
George, if some redress be not seen to, I will take the 
matter into my own hands without waiting for your 
motions, tardy and dilatory as they are."^ 

Reprisals were made accordingly, and the inno- 
cent French merchants, coming peaceably to the 
fair at Antwerp, suffered confiscation of their pri- 
vate property, while the duke felt fully justified 
in stationing his fleet off the coast of Normandy to 
guard the Channel. Philip de Commines was one 
of the company who went at the duke's behest 
to Calais to urge the governor, Wenlock, to be 
faithful to King Edward, and to give no shelter 
to the rebellious earl and his protege Clarence.^ 

Louis feared an outbreak of hostilities at an 
inconvenient moment. He temporised. To War- 
wick, he denied a personal interview, but at the 
same time he sent him a confidential emissary, 
Sr. du Plessis, to whom he wrote as follows : 

"Monsieur du Plessis, you know the desire I have 
for Warwick's return to England, as well because I 
wish to see him get the better of his enemies — or 
that at least through him the realm of England may 
be embroiled — as to avoid the questions which have 
arisen out of his sojourn here. . . . For you 
know that these Bretons and Burgundians have no 
other aim than to find a pretext for rupturing peace 

1 Duke Charles to the Council of the King at Rouen, May 
29th. (Plancher, iv., cclxix.) 

2 Memoir es, iii., ch, iv. 



276 Charles the Bold 

and reopening the war, which I do not wish to see 
commenced under this colour. . . . Wherefore 
I pray you take pains, you and others there, to induce 
Mons. de Warwick to depart by all arguments possible. 
Pray use the sweetest methods that you can, so that 
he shall not suspect that we are thinking of anything 
else but his personal advantage. "^ 

To gain time was Louis's ardent wish at that mo- 
ment. The envoys sent by Louis to placate the 
duke's resentment at the incidents in connection 
with the Warwick affair, and to assure him that 
Louis meant well by him and his subjects, found 
Charles holding high state at St. Omer. When 
they were admitted to audience, the duke was dis- 
covered sitting on a lofty throne, five feet above 
floor level, "higher than was the wont of king or 
emperor to sit." His hat remained on his head 
as the representatives of his feudal overlord 
bowed to him and he acknowledged their obei- 
sance by a slight nod and a gesture permitting 
them to rise. 

Hugonet, a member of the ducal council, an- 
swered their address with a prosy speech. Bur- 
gundian officials revelled in grandiloquent 
phrases — which this time bored Charles. He cut 
short the harangue impatiently, took the floor him- 
self, and made a statement of the injuries he had 
suffered. Louis had promised to be his friend, 
but he was aiding the foe of the duke's brother. 
The envoys repeated their sovereign's offers of 

» Duclos, "Preuves," v., 296. 



English Affairs 277 

redress. Charles declared that redress was im- 
possible. Pained, very pained were the French 
envoys to think that a petty dispute could not 
be settled amicably. " The king desires to avoid 
friction. He offers you friendship, peace, and re- 
dress for every wrong. It will not be his fault if 
trouble ensue. Monseigneur, the king and you 
have a judge who is above you both." 

The insinuation that it was he who was ready to 
break the peace infuriated Charles. He started to 
his feet, his eyes flashing with fire. "Among us 
Portuguese there is a custom that when our friends 
become friends to our foes we send them to the 
hundred thousand devils of hell." ^ "A piece of 
bad taste to send by implication a king of France to 
a hundred thousand devils," comments the suave 
Chastellain, aghast at this impolite, emphatic, 
though indirect reference to Louis XL 

Equally aghast were the Burgundian courtiers 
present at this occasion. After all, they, too, 
were French by nature. To wreck the new-made 
peace for the sake of the English alliance, which 
had never been really popular among them, that 
seemed an act of rash unwisdom. 

"A murmur went the rounds of the ducal suite be- 
cause their chief thus implied contempt for the name 
of France to which the duke belonged. Not going 

» Chastellain, v., 453. These.phrases are, to be sure, those 
of our literary and imaginative chronicler, but the substance 
is that of attested words from Charles. M. Petit -Dutaillis 
accepts it. (Lavisse, iv". , 363.) 



2 78 Charles the Bold 

quite so far as to call himself English, though that 
was what his heart was, he boasted of his mother, 
ancient friend of England and enemy of France. " 

There were, indeed, times when the duke was 
more emphatic in asserting his English blood. 
Plancher cites a scrap of writing in his own hands 
which probably belonged to a letter to the magis- 
trates and citizens of Calais, whom he addresses, 
''O you my friends." ^ While reiterating that 
he simply must defend his own state he adds, ** By 
St. George who knows me to be a better English- 
man and more anxious for the weal of England 
than you other English . . . [you] shall re- 
cognise that I am sprung from the blood of 
Lancaster," etc. His claims of kinship varied 
with the circumstances. 

While he was so conscious of his own greatness, 
present and future, and of his own laudable inten- 
tions to do well by his subjects, it is quite possible, 
too, that Charles was puzzled more or less con- 
sciously by his failure to win popularity. For he 
was quite as unpopular with his courtiers as with 
his subjects. The former did not like the rigid 
court rules. There was no pleasure in sitting 
through audiences silent and stiff *'as at a ser- 
mon," and exposed to personal reprimands from 
their chief if there were the slightest lapses from 
his standard of conduct. They did not know on 
what meat the duke was feeding his imagination, 

» See Plancher, iv., cclxxxix. 



English Affairs 279 

an imagination that already saw him as Caesar. 
Had he actually attained the loftier rank that he 
dreamed of, his premature arrogance might have 
been forgotten, but his pride of glory invisible to 
the world about him was undoubtedly a bar to his 
popularity during the years 1470-73. 

Before this pompous scene passed at St. Omer, 
Louis had been relieved of anxiety in regard to 
the stability of his kingdom, and the dangers of 
an heir like his brother who might easily be used 
as a tool by some clever faction opposed to the 
ruling monarch. On June loth, a son was born 
to him, afterwards Charles VIII. of France. Com- 
plaisant still were his words to his Burgundian 
cousin, but the moment was drawing near when 
his efforts to circumvent him were no longer 
secret. 

The embassy returned home. Possibly their 
report of the duke's passionate words goaded the 
king into discarding his mask of friendship. At 
any rate, his next steps were unequivocal in 
showing which side of the fresh English quarrel 
he meant to espouse. Margaret of Anjou hated 
the Earl of Warwick, not only because he had 
unseated her husband but because he had doubted 
her fidelity to that husband. Nevertheless, under 
Louis's persuasions, she consented to forget her 
past wrongs and to stake her future hopes on 
fraternising with him on a basis of common hate 
for Edward IV. The alliance was to be sealed by 
the marriage of young Edward of Lancaster, the 



28o Charles the Bold 

prince whose very legitimacy Warwick had ques- 
tioned, with the earl's younger daughter. It was 
a singular union to be accepted by the parents, 
separated as they had been by the wall of insults 
interchanged during more than a decade of bitter 
enmity. 

Louis brought his cousin to this step of con- 
cession. She saw her seventeen-year-old son be- 
trothed to the sixteen-year-old Anne Neville, and 
later she herself swore reconciliation to Warwick 
on a piece of the true cross in St. Mary's Church 
at Angers (August 4, 1470). 

"Monsieur du Plessis [wrote Louis XL on July 
25th], I have sent you Messire Ivon du Fou, to put 
the affairs of Monsieur de Warwick in surety, and I 
order him to make such arrangements that the people 
of the said M. de Warwick will suffer no necessity 
until he is there. To-day we have made the marriage 
of the Queen of England and of him, and hope to- 
morrow to have all in readiness to depart. "^ 

»" Aujourd'hui avons fait le mariage de la reine d'Angle- 
terre et de lui." Undoubtedly a half jocose way of stating 
the alliance of the children. The following item occurs in the 
King's accounts for December, 1470 : " a maistre Jehan le pres- 
tre, la somme de xxvii 1. x s.t pour vingt escus d'or a lui donn^e 
par le roy, pour le restituer de semblable somme que, par I'or- 
donnance d'icellui seigneur, il avait baillee du sien au vicaire de 
Bayeux auquel icellui seigneur en a fait don en faveur de ce 
qu' il estait venu espouser le prince de Galles k la fille du 
Comte de Warwick." This was a betrothal, not the actual 
marriage. In August, Louis was still asking for a dispensa- 
tion. (Wavrin, Dupont ed., iii., 41, note. See also Lettres de 
Louis XI., iv., 131.) 




Si 




I 

o 



English Affairs 281 

Meanwhile, the king kept agents in all the Somme 
towns, insinuating opposition to the duke, and 
reminding the citizens that they were French at 
heart. His ambassadors passed in and out of the 
Burgundian court, saying many things in secret 
besides those they said in public. Plenty there 
were that wished for war, remarks the observant 
Commines. Nobles like St. Pol and others could 
not maintain the same state in peace as in war, 
and state they loved . In time of war four hundred 
lances attended the constable, and he had a large 
allowance to maintain them from which he reaped 
many a profitable commission besides the fees of 
his office and his other emoluments . ' ' Moreover, ' ' 
adds Commines, " the nobles were accustomed to 
say among themselves that if there were no battles 
without, there would be quarrels within the realm." 

The matter of the grants to Charles of France 
had been settled to his royal brother's liking, 
not to that of his Burgundian ally. Champagne 
and Brie, so cheerfully promised at Peronne, were 
withdrawn and Guienne substituted. When Nor- 
mandy had been exchanged for Champagne and 
Brie, as it was arranged at Peronne, Charles of 
Burgundy approved the change as he thought it 
assured him an obedient friend as neighbour. ^ 
The second change, Guienne instead of Champagne 
and Brie, was quite a different thing. 

1 A group of smaller seigniories was also involved, Quercy, 
P6rigord, La Rochelle, etc. See letter-patent, (Comines- 
Lenglet, "Preuves," iii., 97.) 



282 Charles the Bold 

Guienne bordered the Bay of Biscay far away 
from Burgundy. Naturally, Charles was not con- 
tent. Then, too, it looked as though he had lost 
a useful friend as well as a neighbour, for the new 
Duke of Guienne was formally reconciled to his 
brother and took oath that his fraternal devotion 
to his monarch should never again waver. 

Long before Charles was completely convinced 
that Louis was not going to maintain the humble 
attitude assumed at Peronne and Liege, he became 
very suspicious that intrigues were on foot against 
him. " He hastened to Hesdin where he entered 
into jealousy of his servants" says Commines. 
That he was assured that there were reasons for 
his apprehensions appears in an epistle circulated 
as an open letter, ^ to various cities, wherein he 
makes a detailed statement of the plots against his 
life by one Jehan d'Arson and Baldwin, son of 
Duke PhiHp. 

Sorry return was this from one recognised as 
Bastard of Burgundy and brought up in the ducal 
household. Further, one Jehan de Chassa, 
Charles's own chamberlain, had taken French leave 
of the duke's service and made his way to the king 
in his castle of Amboise, where he had been pleas- 
antly received and promised rich reward when he 
had "executed his damnable designs against our 
person." 

Messengers sent by this Chassa to Baldwin in 
Charles's court at St. Omer were arrested as sus- 

iDuclos, "Preuves" v., 302. 



English Affairs 283 

picious, and that circumstance frightened Baldwin 
and caused him to take to his heels, leaving his 
retinue, his horses, and his baggage behind. He 
dreaded lest he might be attainted and convicted 
of treason, and therefore he took shelter with the 
king. 

"Saved from this conspiracy by the goodness and 
clemency of God, we inform you of the events so that 
you may render thanks by public processions, solemn 
masses, sermons, and prayers, beseeching Him de- 
voutly and from the heart that He will always guard 
and defend our person, our lands, seigniories, and 
subjects from such plots. 

"May God protect you, dear subjects. Written in 
our castle of Hesdin, December 13, 1470. 

"Charles. 

"Le Gros." 

It was not long before Charles had less reason 
to fear French "subtleties." At an assembly of 
notables^ convened at Tours at the end of 1470, 
Louis dropped the mask of friendship worn uneasily 
for just two years, and made an open brief of his 
grievances against the duke. 

His case was cited with a luxury of detail 
more or less authentic. The interview at Peronne 
was a simple trap conceived by Balue and the 
Duke of Burgundy. The treaties of 1465 and 1468, 
both obtained by undue pressure, had not been 
respected by Charles, etc. The assembly was 
obedient to suggestion. It was a packed house. 

1 Comines-Lenglet, "Preuves, " iii., 68; Lavisse, iv"-, 364. 



284 Charles the Bold 

Even Commines shows that it is not surprising 
that there was unanimity ^ in the declaration 
that according to God and his conscience in all 
honour and justice the king was released from 
those treaties, and the way was paved for an inva- 
sion into Picardy as soon as possible. 

Charles's public accusations of plots against 
him did not go unanswered. Jehan de Chassa 
promptly issued a rejoinder: 

"As Charles, soi-disant Duke of Burgundy, has 
sent to divers places letters signed by himself and his 
secretary, Jehan le Gros, written at Hesdin, December 
13th, falsely charging me with plotting against his life 
with Baldwin, Bastard of Burgundy, and Jehan 
d' Arson, I, considering that it is matter touching 
my honour, feel bound to reply. . . . By God 
and by my soul I declare that these charges against me 
made by Charles of Burgundy are false and disloyal 
lies." ^ 

Baldwin, too, expressed righteous indignation 
at the slur on his character, but he remained in 
the French court as did many others who had 
formerly served Charles. 

Meanwhile, the Earl of Warwick, having left his 
daughter in the hands of Margaret of Anjou, openly 
aided by Louis, sailed back to England in Septem- 
ber. But there had been one further change of 
base of which the earl was still unconscious. His 

1 See Lavisse iv"-, 364. He states that the king named 
all the deputies that the towns were to appoint. 

2 Duclos, ' Preuves, " v., 307. 



English Affairs 285 

elder son-in-law had not rejoiced in the Warwick- 
Lancaster alliance. It brought young Prince Ed- 
ward to the fore, and bereft the Duke of Clarence 
— ^long ready to replace Edward of York — of 
any immediate prospects. Therefore he was in- 
clined to accept offers of a reconciliation tendered 
him by King Edward. 

Despite his secret change of heart, Clarence 
sailed with Warwick and joined with him in the 
proclamations scattered over England, declaring 
that the exiles were returning to "set right and 
justice to their places, and to reduce and redeem 
for ever the realm from its thraldom." Never a 
mention of either Edward IV. or Henry VI. 
Perhaps it was as convenient to see which way 
the wind blew and to put in a name accordingly. 

On landing, however, ''King Henry VI." was 
raised as a cry. In Nottinghamshire, where 
Edward lay, not a word was heard for York. 
There was no conflict. Edward felt that Fate had 
turned against him and off he rode to Lyme with a 
small following, took ship, and made for Holland. 
It was stormy, pirates from the Hanseatic towns 
gave chase, and glad was Edward to take shelter 
at Alkmaar where De la Groothuse, Governor of 
Holland, welcomed him in the name of the duke. ^ 
Edward was quite destitute. He had nothing with 
which to pay his fare across the Channel but a gown 
lined with marten's fur, and as for his train, never 
so poor a company was seen. 

» Commines, iii., ch. v. 



286 Charles the Bold 

Eleven days later, Warwick was master of all 
England and official business was transacted in the 
name of Henry VI., ''limp and helpless on his 
throne as a sack of wool." He was a mere shadow 
and pretence and what was done in his name was 
done without his will or knowledge. 

Charles of Burgundy did not hasten to greet his 
unbidden guest. He would rather have heard that 
his brother-in-law were dead, but he bade Groot- 
huse show him every courtesy and supply him 
with necessaries and five hundred crowns a month 
for luxuries. After a time, and perhaps informed 
by weather prophets that the Lancastrian wind 
blowing over in England was but a fickle breeze, 
he consented to forget his hereditary sympathies. 

"The same day that the duke received news of the 
king's arrival in Holland, I was come from Calais to 
Boulogne (where the duke then lay) ignorant of the 
event and of the king's flight. ^ The duke was first ad- 
vised that he was dead, which did not trouble him much 
for he loved the Lancaster line far better than that of 
York. Besides he had with him the Dukes of Exeter 
and of Somerset and divers others of King Henry's 
faction, by which means he thought himself assured 
of peace with the line of Lancaster. But he feared 
the Earl of Warwick, neither knew he how to con- 
tent him that was to come to him, I mean King Ed- 
ward, whose sister he had married and who was also 
brother-in-arms, for the king wore the Golden Fleece 
and the duke the Garter. 

"Straightway then the duke sent me back to Calais 

» Commines, iii., ch. vi. 



English Affairs 287 

accompanied by a gentleman or two of this new fac- 
tion of Henry, and gave me instructions how to deal 
with this new world, urging me to go because it was 
important tor him to be well served in the matter. ^ 
I went as far as Tournehem, a castle near to Guisnes, 
and then dared not proceed because I found people 
fleeing for fear of the English who were devastating 
the country. . . . Never before had I needed a 
safe-conduct for the Enghsh are very honourable. 
All this seemed very strange to me for I had never seen 
these mutations in the world." 

Commines was uncertain as to what he had 
better do and wanted instructions. ''The duke 
sent me a ring from his finger, bidding me go 
forward with the promise that if I were taken 
prisoner he would redeem me." New surprises 
met the envoy at Calais. None of the well-known 
faces were to be seen. *' Further, upon the gate 
of my lodgings and the very door of my cham- 
ber were a hundred white crosses and rhymes 
signifying that the King of France and Earl of 
Warwick were one — all of which seemed strange 
to me." Well received was Commines and enter- 
tained at dinner. It was told at table how within 
a quarter of an hour after the arrival of news 
from England every man wore this livery (the 
ragged staff of Warwick), so speedy and sudden 
was the change. ** This is the first time that I 
ever knew how little stable are these mundane 
affairs." 

1 See instructions given to him for this mission, Wavrin- 
Dupont, iii., 271. 



288 Charles the Bold 

"In all communications that passed between them 
and me, I repeated that King Edward was dead, of 
which fact I said I was well assured, notwithstanding 
that I knew the contrary, adding further that though 
it were not so, yet was the league between the Duke 
of Burgundy and the king and realm of England such 
that this accident could not infringe it — whomever 
they would acknowledge as king him would we 
recognise. . . . Thus it was agreed that the 
league should remain firm and inviolate between us 
and the king and realm of England save that for 
Edward we named Henry." 

Commines explains further that the wool trade 
was what made amity with England necessary to 
Flanders and Holland, "which is the principal 
cause that moved the merchants to labour earnestly 
for peace." 

Charles made vague promises to his uninvited 
guest, declaring ostentatiously that his blood was 
Lancastrian. Nevertheless he finally consented 
to an interview with him of York, in spite of 
the remonstrances of the Lancastrians, Somerset 
and Exeter. ** The duke could not tell whom to 
please and either party he feared to displease. 
But in the end, because sharp war was upon him 
face to face, he inclined to the English dukes, 
accepting their promises against the Earl of War- 
wick, their ancient enemy." King Edward, ''who 
was on the spot and very ill at ease," was quieted 
by secret assurances that the duke was obliged 
to dissimulate. " Seeing that he could not keep 



English Affairs 289 

the king but that he was bound to return to Eng- 
land and fearing for divers considerations alto- 
gether to discontent him, Charles pretended that 
he could not aid the king and forbade his subjects 
to enter his service." Privately, however, he gave 
him fifty thousand florins of St. Andrew's cross, and 
had two or three ships fitted out at Vere in Zealand, 
a harbour where all nations were received. Besides 
this he secretly hired fourteen well appointed 
ships of the Easterlings, which promised to serve 
him till he landed in England and for fifteen days 
after, ''great aid considering the times." 

King Edward departed out of Flanders in the 
year 147 1, when the Duke of Burgundy went to 
wrest Amiens and St. Quentin back from the king.^ 
*'The said duke thought now howsoever the world 
went in England he could not speed amiss because 
he had friends on both sides. "^ 

Edward's adventures in England proved that he 
had not lost his hold there. Warwick's extraor- 
dinary brief success was but -a flash in the pan. 
London opened her gates and then the pitched bat- 
tle at Barnet gave a final verdict between the rival 
Houses which England accepted. This battle 
was fought on April 14th, when the thick fog and 
the like speech of the two bodies caused hopeless 
confusion. Many friends slew each other unwit- 
tingly, and among the slain was the indefatigable, 

1 Commines, iii., ch. vii. 

2 As soon as Edward and his English exiles sailed, Charles 
published a proclamation forbidding his subjects to aid him. 



290 Charles the Bold 

energetic Warwick who had hoped to play with 
his royal puppets. Only forty-four was he and 
worthy of a better and more statesmanlike career. 
On that same day Margaret of Anjou and her son 
landed at Weymouth. Hearing of Warwick's 
death, they tried to reach Wales but were inter- 
cepted and forced to fight at Tewkesbury. Here 
the young prince, too, met his death. To Ed- 
ward's direct command is attributed the murder 
of the unfortunate Henry VI. in the Tower, which 
happened at about the same time. The desolated 
Margaret of Anjou lingered five years under 
restraint in England before she was ransomed by 
King Louis. 

"Sir John Paston to Margaret Paston. Wreten 
at London the Thorysdaye in Esterne weke, 1471. 

" God hathe schewyd Hym selffe marvelouslye lyke 
Hym that made all and can undoo agayn whare Hym 
lyst." 1 

Charles of Burgundy could now pride himself on 
his foresight. His brother of the two Orders was 
himself again. 

"The very day on which this fight happened [says 
Commines] the Duke of Burgundy, being before 
Amiens, received letters from the duchess his wife, 
that the King of England was not at all satisfied with 
him, that he had given his aid grudgingly and as if for 
very little cause he would have deserted him. To 
speak plainly there never was great friendship between 

1 Letters, iii., 4. 



English Affairs 291 

them afterwards. Yet the Duke of Burgundy seemed 
to be extremely pleased at this news and published it 
everywhere." 

A transaction of his own of this time, the duke 
did not publish. It was a procedure perhaps 
justified by these wonderful "mutations in the 
world" which impressed Commines as strange 
and terrible. The Duke of Burgundy caused a 
legal document to be drawn up attesting his own 
heirship to Henry VI. of England, and filed the 
same in the Abbey of St. Bertin with all due 
formality. If there came more ** mutations" in 
the world whose very existence was a new exper- 
ience to Philip de Commines, Charles was ready 
to interpose his own plank in the new structure. 

In the archives of the House of Croy in the 
chateau of Beaumont, rests this document, which 
was duly signed by Charles on November 3, 147 1, 
in his own hand " so that greater faith " be given to 
the statement that no one was truer heir to the 
Lancaster House than Charles of Burgundy. ^ Two 
canons attested the instrument as notaries, and the 
witnesses were Hugonet, Humbercourt, and Bladet. 

1 See Gachard, Etudes et Notices historiques concernant 
Vhistoire des Pays-Bas, ii., 343, en appro uvant et emologant 
toutes les choses deseurdittes et chascune d'icelles et a fin que 
plus grant foy soit adjoust^e a tout ce que cy desus est escript, 
avant sign6 ce present instrument de nostre propre main et 
le fait sceller de nostre seau en signe de verite, I'an et jour 
desusdit. [This in French, the body m Latin.] 

"Charles." 



292 Charles the Bold 

It was expressly stipulated that if there were any 
delay in the duke's entering upon his EngHsh in- 
heritance — ^which devolved to him through his 
mother, — a delay caused by motives of public util- 
ity of Christendom, and of the House of Burgundy, 
this should not prejudice his rights or those of his 
successors. A mere deferring of assuring the 
titles, etc., brought no prejudice to his rights. 
His delay ended in his death and Edward IV. never 
had to combat this claim of the brother-in-law who 
had helped him, though grudgingly, to regain his 
throne. 



CHAPTER XV 

NEGOTIATIONS AND TREACHERY 
I471 

ALL work had ceased at Paris for three days 
by the king's command, while praise was 
chanted to God, to the Virgin, and to all saints 
male and female, for the victory won by Henry 
of Lancaster, in 1470, over the base usurper Ed- 
ward de la Marche. From Amboise, Louis made 
a special pilgrimage to Notre Dame de Celles at 
Poitiers to breathe in pious solitude his own pray- 
ers of thanksgiving for the happy event. The 
battle of Tewkesbury stemmed the course of this 
abundant stream of gratitude, and there were other 
thanksgivings. 1 

In the spring of 1 47 1 , Edward IV. was dating com- 
placent letters from Canterbury to his good friends 
at Bruges, 2 acknowledging their valuable assist- 
ance, and to his brother Charles, ^ recognising his 
part in restoring Britain's rightful sovereign to his 
throne. To his sister, the Duchess of Burgundy, 
the returned exile gave substantial proof of his 

1 Journal de Jean de Roye, i., 258. 

2 Commynes-Dupont, iii., 202. 

3 Plancher, iv., cccvi., May 28th. 

293 



294 ' Charles the Bold 

gratitude in the shape of privileges in wool manu- 
facture and trade. ^ 

Like one of the alternating figures in a Swiss 
weather vane the King of England had swung out 
into the open, pointing triumphantly to fair weath- 
er over his head, while Louis was forced back into 
solitary impotence. He seemed singularly iso- 
lated. His English friends were gone, his nobles 
were again forming a hostile camp around Charles 
of France, now Duke of Guienne, who had for- 
gotten his late protestations of fraternal devotion, 
and there were many indications that the Anglo- 
Burgundian alliance might prove as serious a peril 
to France as it had in times gone by but not 
wholly forgotten. 

The two most important of the disputed towns 
on the Somme were, however, in Louis's possession, 
and Charles of Burgundy, ready to reduce Amiens 
by siege on March lo, 1471, consented to stay his 
proceedings by striking a truce which was re- 
newed in July. This afforded a valuable respite to 
the king, and he busied himself in energetic efforts 
to detach his brother from the group of mal- 
contents. Various disquieting rumours about 
the prince's marriage projects caused his royal 
brother deep anxiety, and induced him to des- 
patch a special envoy to Guienne. To that envoy 
Louis wrote as follows 2 : 

iRymer, Fcedera, xi., 735. Pro Ducissa Burgundies super 
Lana claccanda. 

2 Lettres de Louis XI., iv., 256, 



Negotiations and Treachery 295 

"MONSEIGNEUR DU BOUCHAGE ! 

"Guiot du Chesney ^ has brought me despatches 
from Monsg. de Guienne and Mons. de Lescun and has, 
further, mentioned three points to me: First, in 
behalf of Mme. de Savoy ,^ . . . second, in regard 
to M. d'Urs6 . . . third, touching the mission of 
Mons. de Lescun to marry Monsg. of Guienne to the 
daughter of Monsg. de Foix. . . . The Urs^ 
matter I will leave to you, and will agree to what you 
determine upon. On the spot you will be a better 
judge of what I ought to say and what would be ad- 
vantageous to me, than I can here. 

"In regard to the third point, the Foix marriage, 
you know what a misfortune it would be to me. 
Use all your five senses to prevent it. I am told 
that my brother does not really like the idea, and 
it has occurred to me that Mons. de Lescun has 
brought him to consent in order to further the 
marriage of the duchess,^ so that in taking the sister, 
the duke will be relieved of this sum, a condition that 
would please him greatly because he has nothing to 
pay it with. I would prefer to pay both it and all 
the accompanying claims and then be through 
with it. In effect, I beg you make him agree 
to another [bride] before you leave, and do not be 
in any hurry to come to me. If this Aragon afEair ^ 

1 One of Guienne's retinue who, later, passed to Louis's 
service. 

2 Louis's sister Yolande. 

3 The Duke of Brittany had married the third daughter of 
the Count de Foix. 

* This was an allusion to a proposed marriage between 
Guienne and Jeanne, reputed daughter of Henry IV. of Castile. 
Vaesen cannot explain the use of Aragon. Various docu- 
ments relating to this negotiation are given. (Comines-Lenglet, 
iii., 156.) 



296 Charles the Bold 

can be arranged you will place me in Paradise. 
''Item. I have thought that Monsg. de Foix would 
not approve this Aragon girl, because he himself has 
some hopes of the kingdom of Aragon through his wife. 
If Monsg. of Guienne were advised of this, I believe 
it would help along our case. 

''Item. It seems to me that you have a splendid 
opportunity to be very frank with my brother. For 
he has informed me through this man that the duke 
[of Brittany] has paid no attention to the representa- 
tions made him in my behalf , through Corguilleray, and 
since my brother himself confides this to me, you have 
an opportunity to assure him that I thank him, and 
that I never cherish him so highly as when he tells me 
the truth, and that I now recognise that he does not 
desire to deceive me, since he does not spare the duke 
[of Brittany] and that, since he sees him opposed to me, 
he should return the seal that you know of and refuse 
to take his sister [Eleanor de Foix, the sister of the 
Duchess of Brittany], or to enter into any other league. 

"If he will choose a wife quite above suspicion, as 
long as I live I will harbour no misgiving of him 
and he shall be as puissant in all the realm of France 
as I myself, as long as I live. In short, Mons. du 
Bouchage my friend, if you can gain this point, you 
will place me in Paradise. Stay where you are until 
Monseigneur de Lescun has arrived, and a good piece 
afterwards, even if you have to play the invalid, and 
before you depart put our affair in surety if you can, 
I implore you. And may God, Monseigneur du 
Bouchage my friend, to whom I pray, and may Nostre 
Dame de Behuart aid your negotiations. The women^ 

'Vaesen gives femmes, Duclos fiUes. The king was above 
all afraid that his brother might marry Mary of Burgundy. 



Negotiations and Treachery 297 

of Mme. de Burgundy have all been ill with the mal 
chault, and it is reported that the daughter is seriously 
afflicted and bloated. Some say that she is already 
dead. I am not sure of the death but I am quite 
certain of the malady. 

"Written at Lannoy, Aug. i8th. 

"LOYS. 

"TiLHART." 

That the king's professed confidence in his 
brother did not remove all suspicions of that 
young man's steadfastness from his mind is shown 
by the following letter, written two days later 
than the above, to Lorenzo de' Medici : 

"Dear and beloved cousin, we have learned that 
our brother of Guienne has sent to Rome to ask a dis- 
pensation from the oath he swore to us, of which we 
send you a duplicate. Since you are a great favourite 
with our Holy Father pray use your influence with his 
Holiness so that our brother may not obtain his dis- 
pensation, and that his messenger may not be able to 
do any negotiating. In this you will do us a singular 
and agreeable pleasure which we will recognise in the 
future as we have in the past on fitting occasion. . . . 

"Written at St. Michel sur Loire, August 20th. 

"LOYS." 

Louis does not seem to have taken his own 
doubts as to the very existence of Mary of Bur- 
gundy very seriously. While he was infinitely anx- 
ious to prevent her alliance with his brother, he 
made overtures to betroth her to his baby son, 
while he reminded her father in touching phrases 



298 Charles the Bold 

that he, Louis, was Mary's loving godfather and 
hence exactly the person to be her father-in-law. 

The winter of 1471-72 was filled with attempts 
to make terms between the king and the duke 
before the termination of the truce. The king 
was very hopeful of attaining this good result, 
and sweetly trustful of the duke's pacific and 
friendly intentions. He sternly refused to listen 
to suggestions that Charles meant to play him 
false and was very definite in his expressions of con- 
fidence. The following epistle to his envoys at 
the duke's court was an excellent document to 
fall by chance into Burgundian hands ^ : 

"To Monsieur de Craon and Pierre d'Oriole: 

"My cousin and monseigneur the general, I re- 
ceived your letters this evening at the hostelry of 
Montbazon where I came because I have not yet 
dared to go to Amboise.^ When I imparted to you 
the doubts that I had heard, it was not with the pur- 
pose of delaying you, in completing your business but 
only to advise you of the dangers that were in the air. 
And to free you from all doubts I assure you, that if 
Monseigneur of Burgundy is willing to confirm, by 
writing or verbally, the terms which we arranged at 
Orleans^, I wish you to accept it and to clinch the 
matter and I am quite determined to trust to it. As 

^Lettres de Louis XL, iv., 286. 

2 There was a pestilence raging at Amboise. 

3 At Orleans, in the last days of October and the first of 
November, there was a conference wherein the king appar- 
ently promised to restore vSt. Quentin and Amiens to Charles, 
if he would renounce his alliance with the dukes of Brittany 
and Guienne and would betroth his daughter to the dauphin. 



Negotiations and Treachery 299 

to your suspicion that he may wish to make the chief 
promises in private letters without putting it in a 
formal shape, you know that I agreed to it by a 
pronotary, and when I have once accepted a thing 
I never withdraw my decision. 

**My cousin and you monseigneur the general, see to 
it that Monseigneur of Burgundy gives you adequate 
assurance of the letters that he is to issue. When I 
once have the letter such as we agreed upon and he 
is bound, I do not doubt that he will keep faith. If 
my life were at stake, I am resolved to trust him. Do 
not send me any more of your suspicions for I assure 
you that my greatest worldly desire is that the matter 
be finished, since he has given verbal assurance that 
he wishes me well. You write that the pronotary 
told you that I was negotiating in every direction. 
By my faith, I have no ambassador but you, and by 
the words that Monseigneur of Burgundy said to 
you you can easily solve the question, for he has only 
offered you what he mentioned before when the 
matters were discussed. It looks to me as though 
they were not free from traitors since they have Abb^ 
de Begars and Master Ythier Marchant.^ 

"A herald of the King of England came here on his 
way to Monsg. of Burgundy, who asked for a safe con- 
duct to send a messenger to me for this truce. Since 
your departure the council thought I ought not to 
give any pass for more than forty days except to 
merchants. If it please God and Our Lady that you 
may conclude your mission, I assure you that as long 

1 Ythier Marchant negotiated the proposed marriage 
between Guienne and Mary of Burgundy. He had received 
"signed and sealed blanks" from the two princes in order to 
enable him to hasten matters. {Lettres de Louis XL, iv., 289.) 



300 Charles the Bold 

as I live I will have no embassy either large or small 
without immediately informing Monsg. of Burgundy 
and I will only answer as if through him. I assure 
you that until I hear from you whether Monsg. of 
Burgundy decides to conclude this treaty or not as 
we agreed together, I will make no agreement with 
any creature in the world and of that you may as- 
sure him. 

** Written at Montbazon, December nth (1471). 

"LOYS." 

At the same time Louis did not neglect friendly 
intercourse with the towns he proposed to cede. 

**To the inhabitants of Amiens in behalf of the king: 
"Dear and beloved, we have heard reports at 
length from Amiens and we are well content with you. 
. . . Give credence to all my messengers say. 
We thank you heartily for all that you and your depu- 
ties have done in our cause." 

At the Burgundian court the duke's friends 
thought that he would play the part of wisdom 
did he keep an army within call, and refrain from 
implicitly trusting the king's promises. There was, 
moreover, an impression abroad that the latter was 
not in a position to be very formidable. 

"Once [says Commines]^ I was present when the 
Seigneur d'Urse [envoy from the Duke of Guienne] 
was talking in this wise and urging the duke to 
mobilise his forces with all diligence. The duke 
called me to a window and said, 'Here is the Seigneur 

1 III., ch. viii. 



Negotiations and Treachery 301 

d'Ursd urging me to make my army as big as possible, 
and tells me that we would do well for the realm. 
Do you think that I should wage a war of benefit if I 
should lead my troops thither?' Smiling I answered 
that I thought not and he uttered these words: 'I 
love the welfare of France more than Mons. d' Urse 
imagines, for instead of the one king that there is I 
would fain see six.' " 

The animus of this expression is clear. It im- 
plies a wish to see the duke's friends, the French 
nobles, exalted, Burgundy at the head, until the 
titular monarch had no more power than half a 
dozen of his peers. Yet Commines states in un- 
equivocal terms that Charles's next moves were to 
disregard his friendship for the peers, to discard 
their alliance, and to sign a treaty with Louis 
whose terms were wholly to his own advantage 
and implied complete desertion of the allied 
interest. 

"This peace did the Duke of Burgundy swear and 
I was present^ and to it swore the Seigneur de Craon 
and the Chancellor of France ^ in behalf of the king. 
When they departed they advised the duke not to dis- 
band his army but to increase it, so that the king 
their master might be the more inclined to cede 
promptly the two places mentioned above. They 
took with them Simon de Quingey to witness the 
king's oath and confirmation of his ambassadors' 
work. The king delayed this confirmation for several 

1" Cette paix jura le Due de Bourgogne et y estois present." 
2 The king's envoys who had spent the winter in the Bur- 
gundian court. See letter to them in December. 



302 Charles the Bold 

days. Meanwhile occurred the death of his brother, 
the Duke of Guienne . . . shortly afterwards 
the said Simon returned, dismissed by the king 
with very meagre phrases and without any oath 
being taken. The duke felt mocked and insulted 
by this treatment and was very indignant about it." 

This story involves so serious a charge against 
Charles of Burgundy that the fact of his setting 
his signature to the treaty has been indignantly 
denied. Certain authorities impugn the histor- 
ian's truthfulness rather than accept the duke's 
betrayal of his friends. It is true that only a few 
months later than this negotiation, Commines 
himself forsook the duke's service for the king's, 
a change of base that might well throw suspicion 
on his estimate of his deserted master. 

Yet it must be remembered that he does not 
gloss over Louis's actions, even though he had 
an admiration for the success of his political 
methods, methods which Commines believed to 
be essential in dealing with national affairs. In 
many respects he gives more credit to the duke 
than to the king even while he prefers the cleverer 
chief. That there is no documentary evidence 
of such a treaty is mere negative evidence and of 
little importance. 

The fact seems fairly clear that Charles of Bur- 
gundy was at a parting of the ways, in character 
as in action. His natural bent was to tell the 

1 See Kervyn, Bulletin de VAcademie royale de Belgique, p. 
256. Also Kirk, ii., 160; Commynes-Mandrot, i., 234. 



Negotiations and Treachery 303 

truth and to adhere strictly to his given word. 
He felt that he owed it to his own dignity. He felt, 
too, that he was a person to command obedience 
to a promise whether pledged to him by king or 
commoner. In the years 1469-1472 several severe 
shocks had been dealt him. He had lost all 
faith in Louis, a faith that had really been founded 
on the duke's own self-esteem, on a conviction 
that the weak king must respect the redoubtable 
cousin of Burgundy. 

The effect on Charles of his suspicions was to 
make him adopt the tools used by his rival, or at 
least to attempt to do so. At the moment of the 
negotiation of 1471-1472, the duke's preoccupa- 
tion was to regain the towns on the Somme. That 
accomplished, it is not probable that he would 
have abandoned his friends, the French peers, 
whom he desired to see become petty monarchs 
each in his own territory. There seems no doubt 
that words were used with singular disregard of 
their meaning. It is surprising that time was 
wasted in concocting elaborate phrases that 
dropped into nothingness at the slightest touch. 

In citing the above passage from Commines re- 
ferring to the treaty, the close of the negotiations 
has been anticipated. Whether or not any draft 
of a treaty received the duke's signature, the 
king's yearning for peace ceased abruptly when 
his brother's death freed him from the dread of 
a dangerous alliance between Charles of France 
and Charles of Burgundy. As late as May 8th, 



304 Charles the Bold 

he was still uncertain as to the decree of fate 
and wrote as follows to the Governor of Rousillon ^ : 

"Keep cool for the present I implore you. If the 
Duke of Burgundy declares war against me, I will set 
out immediately for that quarter [Brittany], and in 
a week we will finish the matter. On the other hand, 
if peace be made we shall have everything without a 
blow or without any risk of restoration. However, 
if you can get hold of anything by negotiating and 
manoeuvring, why do it. As to the artillery, it is 
close by you, and when it is time, and I shall have 
heard from my ambassador, you shall have it at once. ' ' 

Ten days later he is more hopeful. 2 

"Since my last letter to you I have had news that 
Monsieur de Guienne is dying and that there is no 
remedy for his case. One of the most confidential 
persons about him has advised me by a special mes- 
senger that he does not befieve he will be alive a 
fortnight hence. . . . The person who gave me 
this information is the monk who repeated his Hours 
with M. de G[uienne.] I am much abashed at this 
and have crossed myself from head to foot. 

"Written at Moutils-l^s-Tours, May i8th." 

This prognostic was correct. In less than a 
fortnight the Duke of Guienne lay dead, and the 
heavy suspicion rested upon his royal brother of 
having done more than acquiesce in the decree of 
fate. Whether or not there was any truth in this 
charge the king was certainly not heartbroken by 

» Louis to the Vicomte de la Belliere, Lettres, etc., iv., 319. 
2 Louis to Dammartin, Ibid., 325. Mars was written first 
and then replaced by Mai. 



Negotiations and Treachery 305 

the loss. Indeed, the event interested him less 
than the question of making the best use of the 
remainder of his truce with Charles. The follow- 
ing letters to Dammartin and the Duke of Milan 
belong to this time. 

"Thank you for the pains you have taken but 
pray, as speedily as you can, come here to draw up 
your ordinance for we only have a fortnight more of 
the truce. I have sent the artillery and soldiers to 
Angers. Monsg. the grand master, strengthen Odet's 
forces, do not let one man go , and see to it that the 
seneschal of Guienne enrols sufficient to fill his com- 
pany. Then if there are more at large, form them 
into a body and send them to me and I will find them 
a captain and pay all those who are willing to stay. 

"As to him, ^ make him talk on the way and 
learn whether he would like to enter into an agreement 
in his brother's name, and work it so that the duke 
will leave the Burgundian in the lurch at all points 
for ever, and make a good treaty, as you will know 
how, for I do not believe that the Seigneur de Lescun 
left here for any other reason than to attempt to 
make an arrangement of some kind. 

"Now monseigneur the grand master, you are wiser 
than I and will know how to act far better than I 
can instruct you, but, above all, I implore you come 
in all haste for without you we cannot make an 
ordinance. 

"Written at Xaintes, May 28th. 

"L0YS."2 

* Odet d'Aydie, younger brother of the Seigneur de Lescun, 
2 Lettres, XL, iv., 328. Louis to Dammartin, 1472. 



3o6 Charles the Bold 

" Amboise, June 7th. 

"Loys, by the grace of God, King of France. Be- 
loved brother and cousin, we have received the letters 
you have written making mention, as you have heard, 
that in the truce lately concluded between us and 
the Duke of Burgundy up to April ist next coming, 
which will be the year 1473, "the Duke of Burgundy 
has mentioned you as his ally, which you do not like 
because you never asked the Duke of Burgundy to do 
so, and you do not know whether he made this state- 
ment on the advice of the Venetian ambassador who 
is with him. 

"Therefore, and because you do not mean to 
enter into alliance or understanding with the Duke of 
Burgundy but wish to remain our confederate and 
ally and have sworn to that effect before notaries, 
and sealed your oath with your seal . . . that 
you are no ally of the Duke of Burgundy and that 
you renounce and repudiate his nomination as such 
. . . also you may be certain that on our part 
we are determined to maintain all friendship between 
us and you . . . and if we make any treaty in the 
future we will expressly include you in it and never 
will do otherwise."^ 

"Monseigneur the grand master, I am advised 
how while the truce is still in being, the Duke of 
Burgundy has taken Nesle and slain all whom he 
found within. I must be avenged for this. I wished 
you to know so that if you can find means to do him 
a like injury in his country you will do it there and 
anywhere that you can without sparing anything. I 
have good hopes that God will aid in avenging us, 

1 Lettres, iv., 331. Louis to the Duke of Milan. 



Negotiations and Treachery 307 

considering the murders for which he is responsible 
within the church and elsewhere, and because by vir- 
tue of the terms of their surrender [they thought] 
they had saved their lives. 

"Done at Angers, June 19th. 

"P. S. — If the said place had been destroyed and 
rased as I ordered this never would have happened. 
Therefore, see to it that all such places be rased to the 
ground, for if this be not done the people will be 
ruined and there will be an increase of dishonour and 
damage to me. "^ 

One fact stated by Louis in this letter was 
true. Charles of Burgundy broke the truce when 
it had but two weeks to run, and thus put himself 
in the wrong. The death of Guienne made him 
wild with anger. Apparently he had not believed 
in the imminence of the danger, although he had 
-been constantly informed of the progress of the 
prince's illness. But to his mind, it was the hand 
of Louis, not the judgment of God, that ended the 
life of the prince. 

"On the morrow, which was about May 15, 1472, 
so far as I remember [says Commines] came letters 
from Simon de Quingey, the duke's ambassador to 
the king, announcing the death of the Duke of Guienne 
and that the king had recovered the majority of his 
places. Messages from various localities followed 
headlong one on the other, and every one had a dif- 
ferent story of the death. 

» Lettres, etc., v., 4. Louis to Dammartin. See also Duclos, 
v., 331. There are slight discrepancies between the two 
texts, but the differences do not affect the narrative. 



3o8 Charles the Bold 

"The duke being in despair at the death, at the 
instigation of other people as much concerned as 
himself, wrote letters full of -bitter accusations against 
the king to several towns — an action that profited 
littlefor nothing was done about it. ^ . . . In this 
violent passion the duke proceeded towards Nesle 
in Vermandois, and commenced a kind of warfare 
such as he had never used before, burning and de- 
stroying wherever he passed." 

It is interesting to note how smoothly Commines 
sails by the capital charges against the king. He 
neither accepts nor denies the king's crime, while 
frankly admitting that Guienne's decease was an 

1 Odet d'Aydie, whom Louis had hoped to have converted 
to his cause, was the man to spread the charge against Louis 
broadcast over the land. The truth of the death is not proven. 
Frequent mentions of Guienne's condition occur through the 
letters of the winter '71-72. The story was that the poison, 
administered subtly by the king's orders, caused the illness 
of both the prince and his mistress, Mme. de Thouan. She 
died after two months of suffering, December 14th, while 
he resisted the poison longer, though his health was completely 
shattered and his months of longer life were unutterably 
wretched and painful, a constant torture until death merci- 
fully released him in May. Accusations of poisoning are 
often repeated in history. In this case, there was certainly 
a wide-spread belief in Louis's guilt. In his manifestos, 
(Lenglet, ii., 198) Charles declares that the king's tools in 
compassing his brother's death were a friar, Jourdain Favre, 
and Henri de la Roche, esquire of his kitchen. 

The story told by Brantome (CEuvres Computes de Pierre 
de Bourdeille, Seigneur de Brantome, ii., 329. "Grands 
Capitaines Francois." There is nothing too severe for Bran- 
tome to say about Louis XL) is very detailed. A fool 
passed to Louis's service from that of the dead prince. 
While this man was attending his new master in the church 



Negotiations and Treachery 309 

opportune circumstance for Louis. He apologises 
for mentioning any evil report of either king or 
duke, but urges his duty as historian to tell the 
truth without palliation. 

Nesle was a little place on a tributary of the 
Somme which refused the duke's summons to sur- 
render, sent to it on June loth. It seems possible 
that there was a misunderstanding between the 
citizens and the garrison which resulted in the 
slaughter of the Burgundian heralds. Where- 
upon, the exasperated soldiers rushed headlong 
upon the ill-defended burghers and wreaked a ter- 
rible vengeance on the town. 

When the duke arrived on the spot, the carnage 

of Notre Dame de Cl^ry, he heard him make this prayer to 
the Virgin : "Ah ! my good Lady, my little mistress, my great 
friend in whom I have always put my trust, I pray thee be a 
suppliant to God in my behalf, be my advocate with Him so 
that He may pardon me for the death of my brother whom I 
had poisoned by this wicked Abbe of St. John. I confess it 
to thee as to my good patron and mistress. But what was 
to be done? He was a torment to my realm. Get me 
pardoned and I know well what I will give thee." 

Brant6me tells further that the fool, using the privilege of 
free speech accorded to his class, talked about Guienne's death 
at dinner in public and after that day was never seen again. 
On the other hand, the young duke's will was all to his 
brother's favour. Louis was made executor and legatee, 
"and if we have ever offended our beloved brother," dictated 
the dying man, "we implore him to pardon us as we with de- 
bonnaire affection pardon him." Mandrot, editor of Com- 
mynes (1901), i., 230, considers the whole story a malicious 
fabrication of Odet d' Ay die, and other authorities refer the 
cause to disease. The very date of the death varies from 
May 12 th to May 24th. 



3IO Charles the Bold 

was over, but he was unreproving as he inspected 
the gruesome result. Into the great church itself 
he rode, and his horse's hoofs sank through the 
blood lying inches deep on the floor. The dese- 
crated building was full of dead — men, women, 
and children — but the duke's only comment as he 
looked about was, " Here is a fine sight. Verily 
I have good butchers with me," and he crossed 
himself piously. 

"Those who were taken alive were hanged, except 
some few suffered to escape by the compassionate 
common soldiers. Quite a number had their hands 
chopped off. I dislike to mention this cruelty but I 
was on the spot and needs must give some account 
ofit."i 

The story of the duke's treatment of the inno- 
cent little town of Nesle is painted in colours quite 
as lurid as the king's murder of his brother. There 
is some ground for the denunciations of Charles, 
but the gravest accusation, that the duke promised 
clemency to the citizens on surrender and then 
basely broke his word, does not deserve credence. 
He was in a state of exasperation and the horrors 
were committed in passion, not in cold blood. 2 

» Commines, iil., ch. ix. 

2 There is a curious document in existence (see Bulletins 
de L'Hist. de France, 1833-34) dated fifty years after the 
event. It is the deposition of several old people who had 
been just old enough to remember that awful experience of 
their youth. Fifty years of repetition gave time for the 
growth of the story. 




Q y 



"I 

Q 111 



Negotiations and Treachery 311 

It is delightful to note the king's virtuous indig- 
nation at his cousin's proceedings, coupled with his 
regrets that he himself had not destroyed the town. 

With the terrible report of the events at Nesle 
flying before his advance guard, Charles went on 
towards Normandy. Roye he gained easily, and 
then, passing by Compiegne where '* Monseigneur 
the grand master" had intrenched himself, and 
Amiens with the good burghers whom Louis 
delighted to honour, he marched on until he 
reached Beauvais, an old town on the Therain. 
Some of the garrison from the fallen Roye had 
taken refuge there, but the place was weak in its 
defences, not even having its usual garrison or 
cannon, as it happened. 

Disappointed in his first expectation of picking 
the town like a cherry, Charles sat down before it. 
The siege that followed won a reputation beyond 
the warrant of its real importance from the extra- 
ordinary tenacity and energy of the people in their 
own defence. Every missile that the ingenuity of 
man or woman could imagine was used to drive back 
the besiegers when the town was finally invested. 

From June 27th to July 9th Charles waited, 
then an assault was ordered. Charles laughed at 
the idea of any serious resistance. **He asked 
some of his people whether they thought the citi- 
zens would wait for the assault. It was answered 
yes, considering their number even if they had 
nothing before them but a hedge." ^ He took 

» Commines, iii., ch. x. 



312 Charles the Bold 

this as a joke and said, "To-morrow you will not 
find a person." He thought that there would 
be a simple repetition of his experience at 
Dinant and Liege, and that the garrison would 
simply succumb in terror. When the Burgundians 
rushed at the walls their reception showed not 
only that every point had a defender, but also 
that those same defenders were provided with 
huge stones, pots of boiling water, burning torches 
— all most unpleasant things when thrown in 
the faces of men trying to scale a wall. Three 
hours were sufficient to prove to the assailants 
the dijfificulty of the task. Twelve hundred were 
slain and maimed, and the strength of the place 
was proven. 

Charles was not inclined to relinquish his scheme, 
but the weather came to the aid of the besieged. 
Heavy rains forced the troops to change camp. 
More men were lost in skirmishes and mimic 
assaults, losses that Charles could ill afford at the 
moment. Finally at the end of three fruitless 
weeks, the siege was raised and the Burgundians 
marched on to try to redeem their reputation in 
Normandy. Had Beauvais fallen, it would have 
been possible to relieve the Duke of Brittany, 
against whom Louis had marched with all his 
forces and whom he had enveloped as in a net. 
This reverse was the first serious rebuff that had 
happened to Charles, and it marked a turn in his 
fortunes. 

Louis fully appreciated the enormous advantage 



Negotiations and Treachery 313 

to himself, and was not stinting in his reward to the 
plucky little town. Privileges and a reduction 
of taxes were bestowed on Beauvais. An annual 
procession was inaugurated in which women 
were to have precedence as a special recognition 
of their services with boiling water and other 
irregular weapons, while a special gift was bestowed 
on one particular girl, Jeanne Laisne, who had 
wrested a Burgundian standard from a soldier 
just as he was about to plant it on the wall. Not 
only was she endowed from the royal purse, but 
she and her husband and their descendants were 
declared tax free for ever.^ 

Charles to the Duke of Brittany 

"My good brother, I recommend myself to you 
with good heart. I rather hoped to be able to march 
through Rouen, but the whole strength of the foe was 
on the frontier, where was the grand master, of whose 
loyalty I have not the least doubt, so that the project 
could not be effected. I do not know what will hap- 
pen. Realising this, I have given subject for thought 
elsewhere and I have pitched my camp between 
Rouen and Neufchatel, intending, however, to return 
speedily. If not I will exploit the war in another 
quarter more injurious to the enemy, and I will exert 
myself to keep them from your route. My Burgun- 
dians and Luxemburgers have done bravely in Cham- 
pagne. I know, too, that you have done well on 

1 Legend makes it that Jeanne Laisne, called Fouquet, 
chopped off the hands of the standard-bearer with a hatchet. 
Hence her name was changed to La Hachette, and she is repre- 
sented with a hatchet. 



SH Charles the Bold 

your part, for which I rejoice. I have burned 
the territory of Caux in a fashion so that it will 
not injure you, nor us, nor others, and I will 
not lay down arms without you, as I am certain 
you will not without me. I will pursue the work com- 
menced by your advice at the pleasure of Our Lord, 
may He give you good and long life with a fruitful 
victory. 

"Written at my camp near Boscise, September 
4th. 

"Your loyal brother, 

"Charles."i 

The duke's course was marked by waste and 
devastation from the walls of Rouen to those of 
Dieppe, but nothing was gained from this desola- 
tion. By September, keen anxiety about his 
territories led him to fear staying so far from 
his own boundaries, and he decided to return. 
Through Picardy he marched eastward burning 
and laying waste as before. 

Hardly had he turned towards the Netherlands, 
when Louis marched into Brittany against his 
weakest foe. There was no fighting, but Francis 
found it wise to accept a truce. Odet d'Aydie, 
who had ridden in hot haste to Brittany, scatter- 
ing from his saddle dire accusations of fratricide 
against Louis — ^this same Odet became silenced and 
took service with the king. 2 When reconcilations 
were effected, most kind to the returning ally or 
servant did Louis always show himself. 

» Barante, vii., 333. 
2 See Lavisse, iv"-, 368, 



Negotiations and Treachery 315 

On November 3d, a truce was struck between 
Louis and Charles, which, later, was renewed for 
a year. But never again did the two men come 
into actual conflict with each other, though they 
were on the eve of doing so in 1475. 

The period of the great coalitions among the 
nobles was at an end. Charles of France was 
dead and so, too, were others who were strong 
enough to work the king ill. The Duke of Brit- 
tany showed no more energy. When again within 
his own territories, Charles of Burgundy became 
absorbed in other projects which he wished to 
perfect before he again measured steel with Louis. 

"The Duke of Berry, he is dead, 
Brittany doth nod his head, ■> 
Burgundy doth sulky sit, 
While Louis works with every wit."^ 

Such was the tenor of a doggerel verse sung in 
France, a verse that probably never came to 
Charles's ears — though Louis might have listened 
to it cheerfully. 

Infinitely disastrous were the events of that 
summer to Charles of Burgundy. Not only had he 
lost in allies, not only had he squandered life and 
money uselessly in his reckless expedition over 
the north of France, but his own retinue was 

» "Berri est mort, 

Bretagne dort, 

Bourgogne hongne, 

Le Roy besogne." 
Le Roux de Lincy, Chants historiques et populaires du temps 
de Louis XL 



3i6 Charles the Bold 

diminished and weakened by the men whom 
Louis had succeeded in luring from his service. 
The loss that Charles suffered was not only for 
the time but for posterity. Among those con- 
vinced that there was more scope for men of talent 
in France than in Burgundy was that clever 
observer of humanity who had been at Charles's 
side for eight years. In August of 1472, Philip 
de Commines took French leave of his master 
and betook himself to Louis, who evidently was 
not surprised at his advent. 

The historian's own words in regard to this 
change of base are laconic: "About this time I 
entered the king's service (and it was the year 
1472), who had received the majority of the servi- 
tors of his brother the Duke of Guienne. And he 
was then at Pont de Ce." ^ This passing from one 
lord to another happened on the night between 
the 7th and 8th of August, when the Burgundian 
army lay near Eu. 

The suddenness of the departure was probably 
due to the duke's discovery of his servant's inten- 
tions not yet wholly ripe, and those intentions 
had undoubtedly been formed at Orleans, in 
147 1, when Commines made a secret journey 
to the king. On his way back to Burgundy, 
he deposited a large sum of money at Tours. 
Evidently he did not dare put this under his own 
name, or claim it when it was confiscated as the 

1 Commines also mentions here "the confessor of the Duke 
of Guienne and a knight to whom is imputed the death of the 
Duke of Guienne." (iii., ch. xi.) 



Negotiations and Treachery 317 

property of a notorious adherent of Louis's foe.^ 
When the fugitive reached the French court, 
however, he was amply recompensed for all his 
losses. 2 For, naturally, at his flight, all his 
Burgundian estates were abandoned.^ It was at 
six o'clock on the morning of August 8th that the 
deed was signed whereby the duke transferred 
to the Seigneur de Quievrain all the rights apper- 
taining to Philip de Commines, "which rights 
together with all the property of whatever kind 
have escheated to us by virtue of confiscation 
because he has to-day, the date of this document, 
departed from our obedience and gone as a fugi- 
tive to the party opposed to us." ^ 

There are various surmises as to the cause of this 
precipitate departure. Not improbable is the sug- 
gestion that Charles often overstepped the bounds 
of courtesy towards his followers. Once, so runs 
one story, he found the historian sleeping on his 
bed where he had flung himself while awaiting 

1 Kirk (ii., 156) thinks that this confiscation was only Louis's 
way of prodding him up to act. 

2Dupont (Commynes, iii., xxxvi). The fugitive did not 
enter immediately into his new possessions. The king's gift 
of the principality of Talmont, dated October, 1472, was not 
registered in Parlement until December 13, 1473, ^^^ i^i 'the 
court of records May 2, 1474. Prince of Talmont did Com- 
mines become at last, and as such he married Helen de 
Chambes, January 27, 1473. 

3 It is strange that La Marche does not mention this 
defection. 

4 See document quoted by Gachard, Etudes et Notices, etc. 
ii.. 344. The original is in the Croy family archives preseryed 
in the chateau of Beaumont. 



3i8 Charles the Bold 

his master. Charles pulled off one of his boots 
"to give him more ease" and struck him in the 
face with it. In derision the courtiers called 
Commines tete bottee, and their mocking sank 
deep into his soul. 

Contemporary writers make little of the chroni- 
cler's defection. These crossings from the peer's 
to the king's camp were accepted occurrences. 
But by Charles they were not accepted. There 
is a vindictive look about the hour when he dis- 
poses of his late confidant's possessions, only 
explicable by intense indignation not itemised 
in the deed approved by the court of Mons. ^ 

More loyal was that other chronicler, Olivier 
de la Marche, though to him, also, came intima- 
tions that he would find a pleasant welcome at the 
French court. He, too, had opportunities galore 
to make links with Louis. The accounts teem 
with references to his secret missions here and 
there, and with mention of the rewards paid, all 
carefully itemised. So zealous was this messenger 
on his master's commissions, that his hackneys 
were ruined by his fast riding and had to be sold 
for petty sums. The keen eye of Louis XL was 
not blind to the quality of La Marche's services, 
and he thought that they, too, might be diverted 
to his use. 2 

» See also Comines-Lenglet, i., xcj., for discussion of this 
event. He asserts that the court of Burgundy was too 
corrupt for honest men to endure it. 

2 See Stein. Etude, etc., sur Olivier de la Marche. (M^m, 
Couronn^s) xlix. 



Negotiations and Treachery 319 

"Monsieur du Bouchage, Guillaume de Thouars has 
told me that Messire Olivier de la Marche is willing to 
enter my service and I am afraid that there may be 
some deception. However, there is nothing that I 
would like better than to have the said Sieur de Cimay, 
as you know. Therefore, pray find out how the 
matter stands, and if you see that it is in good 
earnest work for it with all diligence. Whatever you 
pledge I will hold to. Advise me of everything. 

'* Written at Clery, October i6th [1472]. 
** To our beloved and faithful councillor and chancellor, 

Sire du Bouchage." ^ 

But La Marche was not tempted, and was 
rewarded for his fidelity by high office in a duchy 
which, shortly after these events, was ''annexed" 
to his master's domain. 

1 Letter of Louis XL in Bibl. Nat. ; Ibid., p. 179. 



CHAPTER XVI 

GUELDERS 
1473 

THE affairs of the little duchy of Guelders were 
among the matters urgently demanding 
the attention of the Duke of Burgundy at the close 
of his campaign in France. The circumstances of 
the long-standing quarrel between Duke Arnold 
and his unscrupulous son Adolf were a scandal 
throughout Europe. In 1463, a seeming recon- 
ciliation of the parties had not only been effected 
but celebrated in the town of Grave by a pleasant 
family festival, from whose gaieties the elder duke, 
fatigued, retired at an early hour. Scarcely was 
he in bed, when he was aroused rudely, and car- 
ried off half clad to a dungeon in the castle of 
Buren, by the order of his son, who superin- 
tended the abduction in person and then became 
duke regnant. For over six years the old man 
languished in prison, actually taunted, from time 
to time, it is said, by Duke Adolf himself. 

Indignant remonstrances against this conduct 
were heard from various quarters, and were all 
alike unheeded by the young duke until Charles 
of Burgundy interfered and ordered him to bring 
his father to his presence, and to submit the dis- 



Guelders 321 

pute to his arbitration. Charles was too near 
and too powerful a neighbour to be disregarded, 
and his peremptory invitation was accepted. 
Pending the decision, the two dukes were forced 
to be guests in his court, under a strict surveillance 
which amounted to an arrest. 

The first suggestion made by Charles was for 
a compromise between father and son. ''Let 
Duke Arnold retain the nominal sovereignty in 
Guelders, actual possession of one town, and a fair 
income, while to Adolf be ceded the full power of 
administration." The latter was emphatic in 
his refusal to consider the proposition. "Rather 
would I prefer to see my father thrown into a well 
and to follow him thither than to agree to such 
terms. He has been sovereign duke for forty- 
four years; it is my turn now to reign." Arnold 
thought it would be a simple feat to fight out the 
dispute. " I saw them both several times in the 
duke's apartment and in the council chamber 
when they pleaded, each his own cause. I saw the 
old man offer a gage of battle to his son."^ The 
senior belonged to the disappearing age of chivalry. 
A trial of arms seemed to him an easy and knightly 
fashion of ending his differences with his importu- 
nate heir. 

No settlement was effected before the French 
expedition, but Charles was not disposed to let 
the matter slip from his control, and when he 
proceeded to Amiens, the two dukes, still under 

^ Commines, iv., ch. i. 



322 Charles the Bold 

restraint, were obliged to follow in his train. At 
a leisure moment Charles intended to force them 
to accept his arbitration as final. Before that 
moment arrived, the more agile of the two plain- 
tiffs, Adolf, succeeded in eluding surveillance 
and escaping from the camp at Wailly. He made 
his way successfully to Namur disguised as a 
Franciscan monk. Then, at the ferry, he gave 
a florin when a penny would have sufficed. The 
liberality, inconsistent with his assumed role, 
aroused suspicion and led to the detection of his 
rank and identity. He was stayed in his flight 
and imprisoned in the castle of Namur to await a 
decision on his case by his self -constituted judge. 
This was not pronounced until the summer of 

1473- 

By that time, Charles was resolved on another 

course of action than that of adjusting a family 
dispute in the capacity of puissant, impartial, 
and friendly neighbour. Adolf's behaviour to- 
wards his father had been extraordinarily brutal 
and outrageous. Public comment had been ex- 
cited to a wide degree. It was not an affair to 
be dealt with lightly by Duke Charles. The 
young Duchess of Guelders was Catharine of 
Bourbon, sister to the late Duchess of Burgundy, 
and Adolf himself was chevalier of the Golden 
Fleece. In consideration of these links of family 
and knightly brotherhood, Charles desired that 
the case should be tried with all formality. 

On May 3, 1473, an assembly of the Order was 



:Sii[iiiiiisiiii[iiiiH^ 



'm\\\\\ 



^f t.f 



ARNOLD, DUKE OF GUELDERS 
(from the engraving by PINSSIO, after the drawing by J. ROBERT) 



Guelders 323 

held at Valenciennes,^ and the knights were asked 
to pass upon the conduct of their delinquent 
fellow, who was permitted to present his own 
brief through an attorney, but was detained in 
his own person at Namur. The innocence or 
guilt of his prisoner was no longer the chief point 
of interest as far as the Duke of Burgundy was 
concerned. The latter had made an excellent 
bargain on his own behalf with the moribund Duke 
of Guelders, who had signed (December, 1472) a 
document wherein he sold to Charles all his 
administrative rights in Guelders and Zutphen for 

1 Hist, de I'Ordre, etc., p. 64. One of the places to be filled at 
this session was that of Frank van Borselen, the widower 
of Jacqueline, Countess of Holland. Thus the last faint trace 
of the ancient family disappeared. It is expressly stated 
in the minutes of the session that Adolf of Guelders was 
asked to nominate candidates from his prison, but he would 
not do it. Striking is Charles's remark on the nomination 
of the son of the King of Naples. Considering that the Order 
was already decorated and honoured by four kings, very excel- 
lent, he judged it more a propos to distribute the five empty 
collars within his own states. Nevertheless the infant was 
elected, as was also Engelbert of Nassau. 

Various members are criticised as permitted by the rules 
of the Order. There was reproach for Anthony the Bastard 
for taking a gift of 20,000 crowns from Louis XL Payable 
as it was in terms, it savoured of a pension. Had Henry van 
Borselen done all he could to prevent Warwick's landing in 
England? etc. 

Among the minor pieces of business discussed was the 
disposition of the scarlet mantles now discarded by the 
chevaliers. It was decided after deliberation that they 
should be sold and the proceeds applied to the purchase of 
tapestries for the chapel of Dijon, and the treasurer was 
deputed to see about it. Perhaps it was in this connection 
that the discussion turned on the wide-spread use, or rather 



324 Charles the Bold 

ninety-two thousand florins, i in consideration of 
Arnold's enjoying a life interest in half of the 
revenue of his ancient duchy. That clause soon 
lost its significance. The old man's life ceased 
in March, 1473, and, by virtue of the contract, 
Charles proposed to enter into full possession of 
his estates, setting aside not only Adolf, whom he 
was ready to pronounce an outlawed criminal, 
quite beyond the pale of society, but that 
Adolf's innocent eight-year-old heir, Charles, whose 
hereditary claims had also been ignored by his 
grandfather. 

Before the knights of the Order as a final court, 
were rehearsed all the circumstances of the old 
family quarrel and of the late commercial tran- 
saction. Their verdict was the one desired by their 
chief. It was proven to their entire satisfaction 
that Arnold's sale of the duchy of Guelders and 
Zutphen was a legitimate proceeding, and that the 
deed executed by him was a perfect and valid 
instrument, whereby Charles of Burgundy was 
duly empowered to enjoy all the revenues of, 
and to exert authority in, his new duchy at his 
pleasure. As to Duke Adolf, he was condemned 
by this tribunal of his peers to life imprisonment 

abuse of gold and velvet. It tended to depreciate the Order 
and the state of chivalry. But the sovereign thought it best 
to defer this point until his return from his proposed journey- 
to Guelders. Lengthy, too, were the discussions upon the 
exact usage in respect to wearing the collar and insignia of the 
Order. 

1 The first sum named was three hundred thousand. 



Giielders 325 

as punishment for his unfiHal and unjustifiable 
cruelty towards Arnold, late Duke of Guelders. 

Adolf's protests were stifled by his prison bars, 
but the people of Guelders were by no means dis- 
posed to accept unquestioned this deed of trans- 
fer, made when the two parties to the conveyance 
were in very unequal conditions of freedom. 
In order to convince them of the justice of his 
pretensions, Charles levied a force almost as effi- 
cient as his army of the preceding summer, and 
fell upon Guelders. A truce, a triple compact 
with France and England, had recently been 
renewed, so that for the moment his hands were 
free from complications, an event commented 
upon by Sir John Paston, as follows : 

**April 16, 1473, Canterbury. 
"As for tydings ther was a truce taken at Brusslys 
about the xxvi day off March last, betwyn the Duke of 
Burgoyn and the Frense Kings inbassators and Master 
William Atclyff ffor the king heer, whiche is a pese 
be londe and be water tyll the ff yrst daye off Apryll 
nowe next comyng betweyn Fraunce and Ingeland, 
and also the Dukys londes. God holde it ffor ever." 

The writer had recently been in Charles's "Court. 
Writing from Calais in February, he says : 

"As ffor tydyngs heer ther bee but few saff that 
the Duke of Burgoyen and my Lady hys wyffe fareth 
well. I was with them on Thorysdaye last past at 
Gaunt."! 

J The Paston Letters, iii., 79. 



326 Charles the Bold 

The Duke of Burgundy was not the only pre- 
tender to the vacated sovereignty of Guelders. 
The Duke of Juliers was also inclined to urge his 
cause, were Adolf's family to be set aside. At 
the sight of Burgundian puissance, however, he 
was ready to be convinced, and accepted 24,000 
florins for his acquiescence in the righteousness 
of the accession. Several of the cities manifested 
opposition to Charles, but yielded one after 
another. In Nimwegen — ^long hostile to Duke 
Arnold — there was a determined effort to support 
little Charles of Guelders who, with his sister, was 
in that city. The child made a pretty show on 
his little pony, and there were many declarations 
of devotion to his cause as he was put forward to 
excite sympathy. For three weeks, the town 
held out in his name. The resistance to the Bur- 
gundian troops was sturdy. When the gates 
gave way before their attacks the burghers de- 
fended the broken walls. Six hundred English 
archers were repulsed from an assault with such 
sudden energy that they left their banners sticking 
in the very breaches they thought they had won, 
fine prizes for the triumphant citizens. But 
the game was unequal, and the combatants, con- 
vinced that discretion was the better part of 
valour, at last accepted the Duke of Cleves as a 
mediator with their would-be sovereign. 

On July 19th, a long civic procession headed 
by the burgomasters, wearing neither hats nor 
shoes, marched to the Duke of Burgundy with a 



Guelders 327 

prayer for pardon on their lips. The leaders of the 
opposition to his accession were delivered over to 
the mercy of the victor. The garrison were ac- 
corded their lives and a tax was imposed on the 
city to indemnify the duke for his needless 
trouble, and Guelders was added de facto to the 
list of Burgundian ducal titles. In the various 
state papers presently issued by the new ruler, the 
mention of the circumstance of his accession to 
the sovereignty was simple and straightforward, 
as in a certain document appointing Olivier de la 
Marche to be treasurer. The patent bears the 
date of August i8th and was one of the earliest 
issued by Charles in this new capacity. 

"As by the death of the late Messire Arnold, in his 
life Duke of Guelderland, these counties and duchy 
have lapsed to me, and by the same token the offices 
of the land have escheated to our disposition, and 
among others the office of master of the moneys of 
those countships . . . using the rights, etc., es- 
cheated to me, and in consideration of the good and 
agreeable services already rendered and continually 
rendered by our knight, etc., Olivier de la Marche, 
having full confidence in his sense, loyalty, probity, 
and good diligence — for these causes and others we 
entrust the office of master and overseer of moneys of 
the land of Guelders to him, with all the rights, duties, 
and privileges thereto pertaining. In testimony of 
this we have set our seal to these papers. Done in 
our city of Nimwegen, August 18, 147 3- Thus 
signed by M. le due." 

On the back of this document was written: 



328 Charles the Bold 

''To-day, November 3, 1473, Messire Olivier de la 
Marche . . . took the oath of office of 
master and overseer of the land and duchy of 
Guelders."! 

The charge of the ducal children, Charles and 
Philippa, was entrusted to the duke who, in his 
turn, deputed Margaret of York to supervise 
their education. In a comparatively brief time 
agitation in behalf of the disinherited heir ceased, 
and imperial ratification alone was required to 
stamp the territory as a legal fraction of the 
Burgundian domains. Under the circumstances 
the minor heirs were the emperor's wards, and it 
was his express duty to look to their interests, 
but Frederic III. showed no disposition to assert 
himself as their champion. On the contrary, 
the embassy that arrived from his court on August 
14th was charged with felicitations to his dear 
friend, Charles of Burgundy, for his acquisition, 
and with assurances that the requisite investiture 
into his dignities should be given by his imperial 
hand at the duke's pleasure. ^ 

Communication between Frederic and Charles 
had been intermittently frequent during the past 
three years, and one subject of their letters was 
probably a reason why Charles had been willing to 
abandon a losing game in France to give another 
bias to his thoughts. He was lured on by the 

» See Memoires Couronnes, xlix., 180. 

2 Toutey, p. 42; Lenglet, ii., 207. August 14th the 
Duke of Burgundy crossed the Rhine and made his way to 
Nimwegen where the ambassador of the emperor visited him. 



Guelders 329 

bait of certain prospects, varying in their definite 
form indeed, but full of promise that he might be 
enabled, eventually, to confer with Louis XI. from 
a better vantage ground than his position as first 
peer of France. The story of these hopes now 
becomes the story of Charles of Burgundy. 

When Sigismund of Austria completed his 
mortgage, in 1469, at St. Omer, and returned 
home, as already stated, he was fired with zeal to 
divert some of the dazzling Burgundian wealth 
into the empty imperial coffers. An alliance 
between Mary of Burgundy and the young Arch- 
duke Maximilian seemed to him the most advan- 
tageous matrimonial bargain possible for the 
emperor's heir. He urged it upon his cousin with 
all the eloquence he possessed, and was lavish 
in his offers to be mediator between him and 
his new friend Charles. 

Frederic was impressed by Sigismund 's enthusi- 
astic exposition of the advantages of the match, 
and little time elapsed before his ambassador 
brought formal proposals to Charles for the alli- 
ance. The duke received the advances compla- 
cently and returned propositions significant of his 
personal ambitions. As early as May, 1470, his 
instructions to certain envoys sent to the inter- 
mediary, Sigismund, are plain. In unequivocal 
terms, his daughter's hand is made contingent on 
his own election as King of the Romans, that 
shadowy royalty which veiled the approach to the 
imperial throne. 



330 Charles the Bold 

"Item — -And in regard to the said marriage, the 
ambassadors shall inform Monseigneur of Austria 
that, since his departure from Hesdin, certain people 
have talked to Monseigneur about this marriage and 
mentioned that, in return, the emperor would be will- 
ing to grant to Monseigneur the crown and the 
government of the Kingdom of the Romans, with the 
stipulation that Monseigneur, arrived at the empire by 
the good pleasure of the emperor or by his death, would, 
in his turn, procure the said crown of the Romans for 
his son-in-law. The result will be that the empire 
will be continued in the person of the emperor's son 
and his descendants. 

''Item — They shall tell him about a meeting be- 
tween the imperial and ducal ambassadors, at which 
meeting there was some talk of making a kingdom 
out of certain lands of Monseigneur and joining these 
to an imperial vicariate of all the lands and prin- 
cipalities lying along the Rhine." 

In the following paragraphs of this instruction,! 
Charles directs his envoys to make it clear to 
Monseigneur of Austria (Sigismund) that the 
duke's interest in the plan does not spring from 
avarice or ambition. He is purely actuated by a 
yearning to employ his time and his strength for 
God's service and for the defence of the Faith, 
while still in his prime. 

1 This instruction, printed by Lenglet (iii., 238) from the 
Godefroy edition of Commines, has no date and has been 
referred to 1472. From internal evidence it seems fair to 
conclude that it belongs rather to 1470. The question of the 
marriage comes in at the end of the paper, the first part 
beins: devoted to Swiss affairs. 



Guelders 331 

Should the emperor refuse to approve the 
duke's nomination as King of the Romans, the 
ambassadors are instructed to say that they are 
not empowered to proceed with the marriage 
negotiations without first referring to their chief. 
They must ask leave to return with their report. 
If Sigismund should take it on himself to sound 
the emperor again about his sentiments, the 
envoys might await the result of his investigations. 
He was to be assured that while Charles was 
resolved to hold back until he was fully satisfied 
on this point, if it were once ceded, he would 
interpose no further delay in the celebration of the 
nuptials. He must know, however, just what 
power and revenue the emperor would attach 
to the proposed title. He was not willing to 
accept it without emoluments. His present 
financial burdens were already heavy, etc. The 
concluding items of the instructions had refer- 
ence to the marriage settlements. 

A kingdom of his own was not the duke's dream 
at this stage of Burgundo-Austrian negotiations. 
The title that Charles desired primarily was King 
of the Romans, one empty of substantial sovereign 
power, but rich with promise of the all-embracing 
imperial dignity. Significant is the intimation 
that after this preliminary title was conferred, its 
wearer would be glad to have Frederic step aside 
voluntarily. A resignation would be as efficient 
as death in making room for his appointed 
successor. 



332 Charles the Bold 

Frederic III. had, indeed, intimated occasionally 
that a life of meditation would suit his tastes 
better than the imperial throne, but he seems 
in no wise to have been tempted by the offer 
made by Charles to relieve him of his onerous 
duties, and then to pass on the office to his 
son. At any rate, the emperor rejected the 
opportunity to enjoy an irresponsible ease. His 
answer to the duke was that he did not exercise 
sufficient influence over his electors to ensure 
their accepting his nominee as successor to the 
imperium. 

There was, however, one honour that lay wholly 
within his gift. If Charles desired higher rank, 
the emperor would be quite willing to erect his 
territories into a realm and to create him monarch 
of his own agglomerated possessions, welded into 
a new unity. This proposition wounded Charles 
keenly. He assured Sigismund^ (January 15, 
147 1 ) that his nomination as King of the Romans 
would never have occurred to him spontaneously. 
He had been assured that it was a darling project 
of the emperor, and he had simply been willing 
to please him, etc. As to a kingdom of his own, 
he refused the proposition with actual disdain. 

Then various suitors for the hand of Mary of 
Burgundy appeared on the scene successively. 
To Nicholas of Calabria, Duke of Lorraine, grand- 
son of old King Rene of Anjou, she was formally 
betrothed. 2 

» Toutey, p. 2>^. 2 Lenglet, Hi., 192. 



Guelders 333 

" My cousin, since it is the pleasure of my very 
redoubtable seigneur and father, I promise you 
that, you being alive, I will take none other than 
you and I promise to take you when God 
permits it." So wrote Mary with her own hand 
on June 13, 1472, at Mons. On December 3d, 
she declared all such pledges revoked as though 
they never had been made, and Nicholas, too, 
formally renounced his pretensions to her hand. 

There were several moments when Charles ®f 
France had appeared to be very near acceptance 
as Mary's husband, and several other princes 
seemed eligible suitors. Doubtless her father 
found his daughter very valuable as a means of 
attracting friendship. Doubtless, too, as Com- 
mines says, he was not anxious to introduce any 
son-in-law into his family. His fortieth year 
was only completed in 1473, and he was by no 
means ready to range himself as an ancestor. 

At successive times the negotiations between 
Charles and Frederic were ruptured only to 
be renewed on some slightly different basis. 
Threaded together they made a story fraught 
with interest for Louis XI., and one that, very 
probably, he had an opportunity to hear. Up 
to August, 1472, it is a safe inference that Philip 
de Commines was fully cognisant of the proposi- 
tions and counter-propositions, the understandings 
and misunderstandings, the private letters of, as 
well as the interviews with, the accredited Austrian 
envoys that appeared at one Burgundian camp 



334 Charles the Bold 

after another. Probably there was nothing more 
valuable in the store of learning carried by the 
astute historian from his first patron to his second 
than all this fund of confidential miscellany. 

It seems a fair surmise that Louis XL enjoyed 
immensely the delightful private view into his 
rival's dreams, the disappointments and rehabili- 
tation of his shattered visions. The relation 
would have made him not only fully aware of the 
reasons why Charles was diverted from his hot 
pursuit of the Somme towns, but thoroughly in- 
formed as to the great obstacles lying in the path 
which the duke hoped to travel. Naturally, the 
king was quite willing to rest assured that ruin 
was inevitable. If his rival were disposed to 
wreck himself rashly on German shoals, the king 
was equally disposed to be an acquiescent on- 
looker and to spare his own powder. 

On his part, Charles was wholly unconscious of 
the extent of his loss of prestige within the French 
realm in 1472. There had been other periods 
when the king had appeared triumphant over 
his aspiring nobles only to be again checked by 
their alliance. In the radical change undergone 
by the feudatories after Guienne's death and 
Brittany's reconciliation, there was, however, no 
opening left for the Duke of Burgundy's re-entry 
as a French political leader. It was this definitive 
cessation of his importance that Charles failed 
to recognise. Confident that his star was rising 
in the east he did not note the significance of its 



Guelders 335 

setting in the west. Thereupon the situation 
was, — Charles, beheving that his plans were his 
own secret, versus Louis, fully advised of those 
plans and alert to all incidents of the past, present, 
and future in a fashion impossible to the duke 
in his absorbed contemplation of his own pro- 
spects, blocking the scope of his view. 

With the emperor's congratulations at the 
duke's accession to Guelders, and his offers to 
invest him with the title, were coupled intimations 
that it was an opportune moment to resume 
consideration of an alliance between the Arch- 
duke Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy. The 
duke accepted the new overtures, and Rudolf 
de Soulz and Peter von Hagenbach proceeded 
to the Burgundian and Austrian courts respect- 
ively, as confidential envoys to discuss the 
marriage.^ 

Charles was far more gracious to De Soulz than 
he had been to the last imperial messenger, the 
Abbe de Casanova, who had restricted his pro- 
posals to Mary's fortunes and ignored her father's. 
The duke had no intention of permitting any con- 
ference to proceed on that line. He was explicit 
as to his requisitions. De Soulz was surprised 
by a gift of ten thousand florins, explained by the 
phrase, ** because Monseigneur recognised the 
love and affection borne him by the said count." 
That was a simple retainer. Other benefits, offices, 
and estates were conferred, to take effect on the 

1 Toutey, p. 44; Chmel, Monumenta Hdbshurgica, i, 3. 



33^ Charles the Bold 

day when Monseigneur was named King of the 
Romans. 

The instructions to Hagenbach were definite, 
covering the ground of those previously men- 
tioned, issued in 1470. He was, however, 
especially enjoined to assure Frederic that the 
duke did not require his abdication. He would 
be content to step into the shoes naturally 
vacated by his death. 

The final suggestion resulting from these parley- 
ings was that an interview between the two prin- 
cipals would be far more satisfactory than any 
further interchange of messages. It was not only 
a propitious time for a conference, but it was 
necessary. The ceremony of investiture of the 
duke into his latest acquired fief made it evidently 
imperative that he should visit the emperor. 
And to preparations for that event, Charles 
turned his attention, now absolutely confident 
that the outcome must be to his satisfaction. 
He had as little comprehension of the character of 
the man with whom he was to deal as he had of 
Louis XI. The choice of a place caused some 
difficulty, each prince preferring a locality near 
his own frontier. Metz was selected and aban- 
doned on account of an epidemic. Finally Treves 
was appointed for the important occasion, and 
Frederic sent official invitations to the princes of 
the empire to follow him thither in October. 

Before Charles arrived at the rendezvous, 
another event had occurred that had an import- 




MARY OF BURGUNDY 
(after the design by c. laplante) 



Guelders 337 

ant bearing on his fortunes. Nicholas, Duke of 
Lorraine, died (July 27th), leaving no direct heir. 
He had been relinquished as a son-in-law, but the 
geographical position of his duchy made the ques- 
tion of its sov^ereignty all important to Charles of 
Burgundy. If it could be under his own control, 
how convenient for the passage of his troops 
from Luxemburg to the south! The taste for 
duchies like many another can grow by what it 
feeds upon. 

Prepared to set out for his journey to Treves, 
Charles hastened his movements and proceeded to 
Metz with an escort so large that it had a formid- 
able aspect to the -city fathers. Whether they 
feared that their free city was too tempting a 
base for attack on Lorraine or not, the magistrates 
yet found it expedient to keep the Burgundian 
thousands without their walls. The emperor, 
too, was on his way to Treves. Many of his suite 
were occupying quarters in Metz. Room might 
be found for Charles and his immediate retainers, 
indeed, but the troops must make themselves 
as comfortable as possible outside the gates. So 
said the burgomaster, and Charles was forced to 
yield and he made a splendid entry into the town 
under the prescribed conditions. 

His own paraphernalia had been forwarded 
from Antwerp, so that there should be an abun- 
dance of plate, tapestry, etc., to grace his tempor- 
ary quarters, and the forests of Luxemburg had 
been scoured to secure game for the banquets. 



33^ Charles the Bold 

It was all very fine, but Charles was not in a 
humour to be pleased. He was annoyed about 
his troops ; very probably he had intended leaving 
a portion at Metz, ready to be available in Lorraine 
if occasion offered. He cut short his stay in the 
town and marched on with his imposing escort to 
Treves, whence he hoped to march out again a 
greater personage than any Duke of Burgundy 
had ever been. ^ 
1 Toutey, p. 46. 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE MEETING AT TREVES 
1473 

ON Wednesday, September 28th, Emperor 
Frederic made his entry into the old 
Roman city on the dancing Moselle. Two days 
later, the Duke of Burgundy arrived and was wel- 
comed most pompously outside of Treves, by his 
suzerain. 

After the first greetings, ensued an argument 
about the etiquette proper for the occasion, an 
argument similar to those which had absorbed 
the punctilious in the Burgundian court, when 
the dauphin made his famous visit to Duke Philip. 
For thirty minutes, the emperor argued with his 
guest before feudal scruples were overcome and 
the vassal was induced to ride by his chief's side 
into the city. 

The entry was a grand sight, and crowds 
thronged the streets, more curious about the 
duke than about the emperor. Charles was then 
in the very prime of Hfe. His personality com- 
manded attention, but there were some among 
the onlookers who found it more striking than 
attractive. One bystander thought that the very" 
splendour of his dress, wherein cloth of gold 

339 



340 Charles the Bold 

and pearls played a part, only brought into high 
relief the severity of his features. His great 
black eyes, his proud and determined air failed 
to cast into oblivion a certain effect of insignifi- 
cance given by his square figure, broad shoulders, 
excessively stout limbs, and legs rather bowed 
from continuous riding. ^ 

There is, however, another word portrait of the 
duke as he looked in the year 1473, whose trend 
is more sympathetic. 2 " His stature was small 
and nervous, his complexion pale, hair dark 
chestnut, eyes black and brilliant, his presence 
majestic but stern. He was high-spirited, mag- 
nanimous, courageous, intrepid, and impetuous. 
Capable of action, he lacked nothing but prudence 
to attain success." 

From the two descriptions emerges a fairly 
clear picture of an energetic man, somewhat 
undersized, and sometimes inclined to assert 
his dignity in a fashion that did not quite com- 
port with his physical characteristics. The con- 
viction that he was a very important personage 
with greater importance awaiting him, and his 
total lack of a sense of humour, combined with his 
inability to feel the pulse of a situation, undoubt- 

1 This comment of the Strasburg chronicler, Trausch, is 
quoted by De Bussiere in his Histoire de la Ligue contre 
Charles le Temeraire, p. 64. Kirk (ii., 222) points out that 
this contemporary had a pecuUar hostiHty towards Charles. 
2Guillaume Faret or Farrel. His Hist, de Rene II. is lost. 
This citation from it is found in La Guerre de Rene II. contre 
Charles le Hardi, by P. Aubert Roland. 




CHARLES THE BOLD 

IDEALISED BY RUBENS. IN THE IMPERIAL GALLERY AT VIENNA 

BY PERMISSION OF J. J. LOWY, VIENNA 



The Meeting at Treves 341 

edly affected his bearing and made it seem more 
pompous. 

The emperor was not an heroic figure in appear- 
ance any more than he was in the records of his 
reign, distinguished for being the feeblest as well 
as the longest in the annals of the empire. He 
was indolent, timid, irresolute, and incapable. His 
features and manners were vulgar, his intellect 
sluggish. Peasant-like in his petty economies, 
he was shrewder at a bargain than in wielding 
his imperial sceptre. At Treves he was accom- 
panied by his son, the Archduke Maximilian, a 
fairly intelligent youth of eighteen, very ready 
to be fascinated by his proposed father-in-law, 
who was a striking contrast to his own languid 
and irresolute father, in energy and strenuous 
love of action. 

As the two princes rode together into the city, 
Charles's accoutrements attracted all eyes. The 
polished steel of his armour shone like silver. Over 
it hung a short mantle actually embroidered with 
diamonds and other precious stones to the value 
of two hundred thousand gold crowns. His 
velvet hat, graciously held in his hand out of 
compliment to the emperor, was ornamented 
with a diamond whose price no man could tell. 
Before him walked a page carrying his helmet 
studded with gems, while his magnificent black 
steed was heavily weighted down with its rich 
caparisons. 

Frederic HI., very simple in his ordinary dress, 



342 Charles the Bold 

had exerted himself to appear well to his great 
vassal. His robe of cloth of gold was fine, though 
it may have looked something like a luxurious 
dressing-gown, as it was made after the Turkish 
fashion and bordered with pearls. The emperor 
was lame in one foot, injured, so ran the tradition, 
by his habit of kicking, not his servants, but in- 
nocent doors that chanced to impede his way. 

The Archduke Maximilian, gay in crimson and 
silver, walked by the side of an Ottoman prince, 
prisoner of war, and converted to Christianity by 
the pope himself. And then there was a host 
of nobles, great and small. Among them were 
Engelbert of Nassau^ and the representative 
of the House of Orange-Chalons, whose titles were 
destined to be united in one person within the 
next half -century. 

The magnificence remained unrivalled in the 
history of royal conferences. The very troopers 
wore habits of cloth of gold over their steel, while 
their embroidered saddle-cloths were fringed 
with silver bells. Surpassing all others, were 
the heralds-at-arms of the various individual 
states which acknowledged Charles as their sover- 
eign, seigneur, count, or duke as the case might 
be. They preceded their liege lord, clad in their 
distinctive armorial coats, ablaze with colour. 
Before them were the trumpeters in white and 

1 He had been made knight of the Golden Fleece at the 
May meeting. From this time on some member of the 
Nassau family was prominent in Burgundian affairs. 



The Meeting at Treves 343 

blue, their very instruments silvered, while first 
of all rode one hundred golden haired boys, ''an 
angel throng." 

It was so difficult to decide as to the requisite 
etiquette of escort, that the emperor and duke 
agreed to separate on the fairly neutral ground 
of the market-place. Each proceeded with his 
own suite to his lodgings, Frederic to the arch- 
bishop's palace, and Charles to the abbey of St. 
Maximin, which had conferred on him, some years 
previously, the honorary title of ''Protector." 
His army was quartered within and without the 
city. Two days for repose and then the first 
official interview took place, which is described 
as follows, by an unknown correspondent, evidently 
in the ducal suite : ^ 

''Yesterday, which was Sunday, Monseigneur 
waited upon the emperor and escorted him to his own 
lodging which is in the abbey of St. Maximin. My said 
lord was clad in ducal array except for his hat. The 
emperor wore a rich robe of cloth of gold of cramoisy, 
and his son was in a robe of green damask. As to 
their people, both suites were very brave, jewelry 
and cloth of gold being as common as satin or taffeta. 
Monseigneur received the emperor in a little chamber 
decorated with hangings from Holland that many 
recognised. 

''The emperor made the Bishop of Mayence his 
mouthpiece to describe the stress of Christianity and 
to urge Charles to lend his assistance. Having list- 

1 Gachard, Doc. inedits, I, 232. Letter from Treves, October 
4, 1473- 



344 Charles the Bold 

ened to this address, Monseigneur requested the 
emperor to please come into a larger place where 
more people could hear his answer. Accordingly 
they entered a hall decorated with the tapestry of 
Alexander, while the very ceiHng was covered with 
cloth of gold. There was a dais whereon stood a 
double row of seats. Benches and steps were spread 
over with tapestry wrought with my lord's arms. 
Thither came the emperor and mounted the dais with 
difficulty. . . . Mons., the chancellor, clad 
in velvet over velvet cramoisy, first pronounced a 
discourse in beautiful Latin as a response to what 
had been said by the seigneur of Mayence. Then, 
showing how the affairs of my said lord were affected 
by the king, he began with an account of the king's 
reception by Monseigneur, whom God absolve [evi- 
dently the late duke], in his own residence, and he 
continued down to the present day, dilating upon 
the great benefits, services, and honour by him [Louis] 
received in the domains of Burgundy, and the extor- 
tions he had made since and desires to make. Never a 
word was forgotten, but all was well stated, especially 
the case of M. de Guienne.^ Finally, Monseigneur 
declared that if his lands were in security, there was 
nothing he would like better than to give aid to 
Christianity. 

*' After this statement, which was marvellously 
honest, the emperor arose from the throne, wine 
and spices were brought, and then Monseigneur 
escorted the emperor to his quarters with grand 
display of torches. This is the outline of what hap- 

» About this time Louis XL made strenuous efforts to un- 
ravel the mystery of his brother's death. (Letter to the 
chancellor of Brittany, Lettres de Louis XL, v., 190.) 



The Meeting at Treves 345 

pened on October 4th, in the said year Ixxiii. And 
as to the future, next Thursday the emperor will dine 
where Monseigneur lodges, et la fera les grants du 
roy,^ and there will be novelties. In regard to the 
fashion of the said emperor and his estate, he is a very 
fine prince and attractive, very robust, very human, 
and benign. I do not know with whom to com- 
pare his figure better than Monseigneur de Croy, as 
he was eight or ten years ago, except that his flesh 
is whiter than that of the Sr. de Croy. The emperor 
has seven or eight hundred horse as an escort, but the 
major part of the nobles present come from this local- 
ity. In regard to Monseigneur' s departure, there is no 
news, and they make great cheer — ^this is all for this 
time." 

The German scholars in the imperial party 
listened most attentively to the style of the 
Netherlander' s speech as well as to his subject- 
matter. "More abundant in vocabulary than 
elegant in Latinity," was their comment, a fault 
they considered marking all French Latin. The 
audience found time to note the style for the 
subject of the address did not interest them 
greatly. The least observant onlooker knew that 
the main purpose of this interview was not the 
plan of a Turkish campaign, though Frederic 
appointed a committee to discuss that, whose 
members, Burgundian and German in equal 
numbers, were instructed to study the Eastern 

1 Gachard could not explain this phrase. It might easily 
refer to the desired investiture. 



346 Charles the Bold 

question while emperor and duke were absorbed 
in other matters.^ In their very first session, 
this committee decided that the chief obstacle 
to a Turkish expedition was the Franco-Burgun- 
dian quarrel. This point was also raised by 
Charles in his first conference with Frederic. 
No campaign was feasible until the European 
powers were ready to act in concert. Louis XI. 
was aiding and abetting the heathen by being a 
disturbing element which rendered this desired 
unity impossible. So Frederic appointed a fresh 
commission to discuss European peace. And 
this insolvable problem was a convenient blind 
for other discussions. 

On October 5th, a Burgundian fete gave new 
occasion for a display of wealth; "vulgar osten- 
tation," sneered the less opulent German nobles 
who tried to show that their pride was not 
wounded by the sharp contrasts between imperial 
habits and those of a mere duke. On their side, 
the Burgundians remarked that it was a pity to 
waste good things on boors so little accustomed 
to elegantly equipped apartments that they used 
silken bedspreads to polish up their boots ! 

A running commentary of international criti- 
cism, fine feasts, ostensible negotiations about 
projects that probably no one expected would 
come to pass, and an undercurrent, persistent 
and mandatory, of demands emphatically made on 
one side, feebly accepted by the other while the 

1 Chmel, Men. Habs., i., Ixxvii., 50, 51: Toutey, p. 50. 



The Meeting at Treves 347 

two principals were together, and petulantly dis- 
liked by the emperor as soon as he was alone again 
— such was the course of the conference. 

Frederic III. had one simple desire — to marry 
his son to the Burgundian heiress. Charles 
desired many things, some of which are clear 
and others obscure. The very fact that the 
emperor did not at once refuse his demands, 
gave him confidence that all were obtainable. 
Very probably he hoped to overawe his feudal 
chief by a display of his resources, and by showing 
the high esteem in which he was held by all nations. 
There at Treves, embassies came to him from 
England, from various Italian and German states, 
and from Hungary. 

On October 15th, a treaty was signed that 
made the new Duke of Lorraine virtually a vassal 
to Charles, an important step towards Burgun- 
dian expansion. There was time and to spare for 
these many comings and goings during the eight 
weeks of the sojourn at Treves, and the duke was 
not idle That his own business hung fire, he 
thought was due to the machinations of Louis XL 
He had no desire to prolong his visit, for he was 
well aware of the risk involved in keeping his 
troops in Treves.^ At first the magnificence of 
his equipage had amused the quiet old town, but 
little by little, in spite of the duke's strict disci- 
pline, the presence of idle soldiers became very 
onerous. Charles did not hesitate to hang on the 

1 Toutey, p. 53. * 



34^ Charles the Bold 

nearest tree a man caught in an illicit act, but 
much lawlessness passed without his knowledge. 
Provisions became very dear; there was some 
danger of an epidemic due to the unsanitary 
conditions of the place, ill fitted to harbour so 
many strangers. The precautions instituted by 
the Roman founders in regard to their water 
supply had long since fallen into disuse. 

Weary of delays, the duke demanded a definite 
answer from the emperor as to the proposed king- 
dom, the matrimonial alliance, and his own status. 
Frederic appeared about to acquiesce, and then 
substituted vague promises for present assent 
to the demands. But when Charles, indignant, 
broke off negotiations on October 3Est, and 
began to prepare for immediate departure, Fred- 
eric became anxious, renewed his overtures, and 
a new conference took place, in which he con- 
sented to fulfil the duke's wishes, with the proviso 
the sanction of his election should be obtained. 

Charles promised to go against the Turk in 
person, and to place a thousand men at Frederic's 
disposal, so soon as all points at issue between 
him and Louis XI. were settled, and provided that 
his estates were erected into a kingdom, which 
should also comprise the bishoprics of Liege, 
Utrecht, Toul, Verdun, and the duchies of Lor- 
raine, Savoy, and Cleves. This realm was to be 
a fief of the empire like Hungary, Bohemia, and 
Poland, and transmissible by heredity in the male 
and female line — a necessary recognition of a 



The Meeting at Treves 349 

woman's right, approved by both parties, for 
Mary of Burgundy was to marry MaximiHan. 

Electoral confirmation alone was wanting, 
and in regard to that there was much volumin- 
ous correspondence and much shuffling of re- 
sponsibility. The electors of Mayence and of 
Treves were the only ones present to speak for 
themselves, and they declared that the matter 
ought to be referred to a full conclave of the 
electoral college.^ Let the candidate for royalty 
await the decision of the next diet, appointed for 
November at Augsburg. 

Never loth to delay, the emperor proposed 
this solution to Charles, who replied haughtily 
that if his request were not complied with he 
would join Louis XL in a league hostile to the 
empire. This was on November 6th. The Arch- 
bishop of Treves then suggested that if the ques- 
tion could not wait for a diet, at least the electors 
should be summoned, especially the elector of 
Brandenburg, whom he knew to be influential 
with the emperor, and who was a leader in the 
anti-Burgundian and anti-Bohemian German 
party. This seemed fair, but the emperor sudden- 
ly put on a show of authority and declared, with 
an injured air, that he was perfectly free to act 
on his own initiative without confirmation. In 
the interests of Christianity and of the empire he 

1 Toutey bases this statement on three letters (October 30, 
31, and November 7, 1473) written by the envoys of the elec- 
tor of Brandenburg, Ludwig von Eyb and Hertnid von Stein. 



350 Charles the Bold 

would appoint Charles of Burgundy chief of the 
crusade, and he would crown him king. 

The organised opposition to his plan came to the 
duke's ears and made him very angry. Yet, at 
the same time, he had no desire to dispense with 
electoral consent. Possibly he felt that the 
imperial staff alone was too feeble to conjure 
his kingdom into permanent existence. It was 
finally decided that Frederic III. should display 
his power to the extent of investing Charles at 
once with the duchy of Guelders, while the more 
important investiture should be postponed. 

Very imposing was the ceremony enacted in the 
market-place. Frederic was exalted upon a 
high platform ascended by a flight of steps. 
Charles, clad in complete steel but bareheaded 
and unattended, rode slowly around the platform 
three times, ''which they say was the custom in 
such solemnities of investiture," adds an eye- 
witness,^ as though he considered the ceremony 
somewhat archaic. Then the candidate dis- 
mounted, received the mantle of the empire from 
an attendant, and slowly ascended the steps to the 
emperor's feet, while a new escutcheon, displaying 
the insignia of the freshly acquired fiefs, quartered 
on the Burgundian arms, was carried before him. 
Kneeling at the emperor's feet, the duke laid 

1 Basin, Histoire des regnes de Charles VII. et de Louis XL, 
ii., 323. Between Nov. 6th and this ceremony there had 
been new ruptures. Hugonet had gone back and forth many 
times between the chiefs and " all the world had wondered." 




MAXIMILIAN OF AUSTRIA, MEDAL 



The Meeting at Treves 351 

two fingers on his sword hilt and repeated the 
oath of fealty and service in low but distinct tones. 
Other rites followed, and then Charles was pro- 
claimed Duke of Guelders. 

Thus one object of the conference was attained, 
and all the world thought it was only a question 
of time when the greater investiture would be 
celebrated. Charles's star was in the ascendant. 
There seemed no limit to the power he had ac- 
quired over his suzerain, who apparently gra- 
ciously nodded assent to his requests, while the 
duke, too, withdrawing from his alliance with the 
King of Hungary, appeared very conciliatory 
in all doubtful issues. At the same time, his 
confidence in Frederic was by no means perfect. 

"The emperor is acting with perfect imperial 
authority and thinks that no one has a right to 
dispute it, nevertheless the duke yearns for the 
sanction of the electors and is set upon obtaining 
it." ^ The tone taken by Charles was that of hum- 
ble ignorance. " Little instructed as I am in im- 
perial German law, I am anxious to have your 
opinion on the legal ability of the emperor to 
erect a kingdom." On November 8th, in the 
evening, the electors present in Treves declared 
that they were not exactly sure about the im- 
perial authority, but they were sure that it was 
not their duty to discuss the legal attributes of 
imperial puissance. 

1 Albert of Brandenburg to the Duke of Saxony. (Muller, 
Reichstag Theatrum, p. 598.) 



352 Charles the Bold 

Under these circumstances what remained to 
hinder the attainment of Charles's desire? The 
emperor consented, and the only people who 
could have stayed his consent expressly stated 
that his was the final word, not theirs. It was easy 
for onlookers to conclude not only that the coro- 
nation was certain but that it was done. 

"Know that our lord the emperor has made the 
Duke of Burgundy a king of the lands hereafter men- 
tioned and has assured the royal title to him and his 
heirs, male and female ; all the territories that he holds 
from the empire together with Guelderland lately 
conquered, and the land of Lorraine, lately lapsed to 
the empire in fief, besides the duchy of Burgundy 
that formerly was held from the crown of France; 
also the bishoprics of Liege, Utrecht, Dolen, and others 
belonging to the empire, besides a few seigniories, also 
imperial fiefs. All this, royalty and principalities, he 
receives from a Roman emperor." 

So wrote Albert of Brandenburg on November 
13th, trusting to the word of an envoy who had 
left matters in so advanced a state when he de- 
parted from Treves that he felt safe in concluding 
that achievement had been reached. ^ 

Various letters from the citizens of Berne, too, 
were filled with rumours from Treves. Most 
extraordinary is one of November 29th, intended 
to go the rounds of the Swiss confederacy, con- 
taining exact details of the coronation of Charles 

1 Toutey, p. 57. 



The Meeting at Treves 353 

as it had taken place five days previously. The 
boundaries of the new kingdom were specified.^ 
Venice, in hot haste to please the monarch, had in- 
stantly shown exceptional honour to the Burgun- 
dian resident. How exact it all sounded! Yet 
there was no truth in it. 

The vacillating emperor was affected by the 
attitude of his suite, and by their varying repre- 
sentations. There is no actual proof of French 
interference, but French agents had been seen 
in the city, and might have had private audiences 
with the emperor. Gradually, relations changed 
between Charles and Frederic. There was a cloud, 
not dissipated by a three days' fete given by the 
duke (November i9th-2 2d), evidently in farewell. 
Was Charles too exigeant with his demands, too 
chary of his daughter? Probably. 

On November 23d, instead of a definitive treaty 
a simple convention was signed, postponing the 
coronation until February. Emperor and regal 
candidate were to meet again at Besangon, 
Cologne, or Basel. In the interval, Charles was 
to come to a satisfactory understanding with the 
electors and obtain their official endorsement for 
the imperial grant. 

November 25th was appointed, not for the 
regal investiture, but for Frederic's departure. 
On the evening of the 24th, he gave audience to 
his councillors and princes. The electors present 
were urged by the Burgundians to give their own 

1 Toutey, p. 60, note. 



354 Charles the Bold 

conditional approval at least, and to consent to a 
reduction of the military obligations to be incurred 
by Charles. It was a crisis, however, where 
nobody wished to pledge anything definitely. 
There was an evident disposition to await some 
further issue before final action. 

The leave-taking between the bargain makers 
was expected to be as pompous as had been the 
entry into Treves. It was far into the night of 
November 24th when the audience broke up. 
Little rest was there for the imperial suite, for when 
the tardy November sun arose above the eastern 
horizon, its rays met Frederic sailing down the 
Moselle. Not only had no imperial adieux been 
uttered, but no imperial debts had been settled. 
This was the news that was awaiting Charles when 
he awoke. Baffied he was, but not in his hope 
of being a king that day. No, only in his ex- 
pectation of a stately pageant.^ In all haste he 
sent Peter von Hagenbach to ride more swiftly 
along the bank than the boat could sail, so as to 
overtake the traveller and urge him to wait for 
a few more words on divers topics. In one ac- 
count it is reported that Frederic, though annoyed 
at the interruption, still assented to Hagenbach's 
request. No sooner was the latter away, how- 
ever, than he changed his mind and continued his 
course. 

» In this account, differing from the current tradition, 
Toutey has followed Bachmann's conclusions (Deutsche 
Reichsgeschichte, ii., 435). 



The Meeting at Treves 355 

Rumour was busy in regard to this strange 
exit of the emperor from the scene. The general 
belief among contemporaries was that it was on 
the eve of the intended coronation that Frederic 
turned his back on the scene. Take first the 
words of Thomas Basin, whose statement that he 
was in the very midst of the events can hardly 
be doubted :i 

"But alas how easily and instantly human desires 
change, and how fragile are the alliances and friend- 
ships of men, especially of princes, which are not joined 
and confirmed by the glue of Christ ... as the 
sacred Psalm sings, 'Put not your trust in princes 
nor in the sons of men in whom there is no safety.' 
Suddenly, forsooth, when they were thought to be 
harmonious in charity, benevolence, and friendship, 
when they offered each other such splendid enter- 
tainment, when they feasted together in regal luxury 
in all unity and friendship, when all things, as has 
been said, needed for the magnificence of such a great 
honour were made ready and prepared, so that on 
the third day should occur the celebration of that 
regal dignity [fastigii], and the [prove ctio] promotion 
of a new king and the erection of a new kingdom 
or the restoration and renovation of an ancient one, 
now obsolete from antiquity, were expected by all with 
great attention; — something occurred, I do not know 
what; hesitation or suspicion, fancied or justified, unex- 
pectedly affected the emperor . . . and embarking on 
his ship in the very early morning he sailed down the 
river Moselle to the Rhine. And thus was frustrated 

1 Basin, ii., 325. 



356 Charles the Bold 

the hope of the duke and of all the Burgundians who 
believed that he was to be elevated to a king. In a 
moment this hope was extinguished like a candle. 

"We were present there in the city of Treves, at- 
tached to the suite of neither prince, not serving 
or pretending to serve either of them. But we ascer- 
tained nothing either then or later, although we made 
many inquiries, about the cause of this sudden de- 
parture and we are still ignorant of the truth. When 
the day broke after the emperor's departure, and the 
duke was informed of the fact, he was also assured 
that the vessel in which the emperor sailed was op- 
posite the monastery of St. Mary Blessed to the Martyrs. 
So he sent messengers hastily to beg the emperor to 
stay for a very brief interview with the duke, assuring 
him that the very least delay possible should occur if 
he did the favour. But no attention was paid to the 
signals from the shore and the course was continued." 

The bishop wrote these words some time after 
the event. There are other accounts preserved, 
actual letters written within a few days or weeks 
of November 25th, wherein is evinced similar 
ignorance of what had actually passed. The 
following gives several suggestions of difficulties 
not mentioned elsewhere. A certain Balthasar 
Cesner, secretary, writes to Master Johannes 
Gelthauss and others in Frankfort, from Cologne, 
on December 6th. ^ He was attached to the im- 

1 Preserved in the municipal archives in Frankfort (nr. 
5808 or ch. lit. clausa c. sig in verso impr.). This is published 
by Karl Schellhass in Deutsche Zeitschrift fur Geschichtewissen- 
schaft, (1891) pp. 80-85. The language is a queer mixture 
of German and Latin. 



The Meeting at Treves 357 

perial service, and possibly was one of the few 
attendants on Frederic in the hasty journey from 
Treves. After touching on Cologne affairs he 
proceeds : 

"I must inform your excellencies how the Duke of 
Burgundy came with all pomp for his coronation as 
king of the kingdom of Burgundy and Friesland with 
twenty-six standards besides a magnificent sceptre 
and crown. He also wished to take his duchy and 
territories in Savoy ^ and Guelders and others in fief 
from him [the emperor] and not from the empire. ^ 
This and other extraordinary demands his imperial 
grace did not wish to grant, and on that account he has 
broken off the interview and gone away. Everything 
was prepared for the coronation, the chair for the 
taking. 3 It is said that he is to be crowned in Aix. 
It may be hoped not [non speratur]. You can 
understand me as well as your faithful servant. 

" Dear Master Hans I hope that you will not laugh 
at me. I can please my gracious lord and be worthy 
of praise if you will only trust me. 

** Despatched from Cologne on St. Nicholas Day itself. 

'*To the Jurisconsult Master Johannes Gelthauss, 
Distinguished advocate, master, preceptor of the city 
of Frankfort." 

The two kingdoms are also mentioned by Snoy : 

1 Charles asked on October 23d, through his chancellor, for 
investiture into Savoy. (Note by Schellhass.) 

2 Under this head is meant Lorraine, which he alleged had 
lapsed to the emperor at the death of Nicholas of Calabria. 

3 This means the throne from which Charles was to step 
down to receive the fief. 



358 Charles the Bold 

"Two realms, namely Burgundy and Frisia;in the 
second, Holland, Zealand, Guelders, Brabant, Lim- 
burg, Namur, Hainaut, and the dioceses of Liege, 
Cambray, and Utrecht ; in the first, Burgundy, Lux- 
emburg, Artois, Flanders, and three bishoprics." 

The chronicler adds that this plan was dis- 
cussed in secret conference.^ 

Again the rumour that the final straw that 
broke the emperor's resolution was the duke's 
desire to take Savoy and Guelders from his hand 
alone, is suggestive. On the duke's part, this 
wish might indicate an attempt to separate a 
portion of territory from the empire in a way 
to deceive his contemporaries into thinking that 
his kingdom was an imperial fief, while, in 
reality, it was an independent realm, as he or his 
successors could declare at a convenient moment. 
But this seems at variance with his attested 
desire for electoral support. 

It was a curious tangle and never fully un- 

1 " Loquitur etiam ferunt de regnis Frisise et Burgundiae sibi 
constituendes quae audissimis auribus accepta visus non tarn 
negare imperator quam dissimulare. 

" Nam et ad earn [majestatem regiam] aspirare et ditiones 
suas velle in duo regna partiri visue Burgundiae et Frisiae: in 
hoc Hollandia, Zelandia, Gelria, Brabantia, Limburgum, 
Namureum, Hannonia et dioceses Leodiensis, Cameracensis 
et Trajectina: altero Burgundia, Luxemburgum, Arthesia, 
Flandria, ecclesiasque cathedrales Sadunensis, TuUensis Ver- 
dunensis essent." (P. 1131.) 

Renier Snoy was born the year of Charles's death, so that 
his statement is tradition but founded on what he might 
have heard from eye-witnesses. 



The Meeting at Treves 359 

ravelled. Yet, considering the emperor's per- 
sonal characteristics, his last action does not seem 
inexplicable. As his visitor showed the intensity 
of his wiU, Frederic became restive. Phlegmatic, 
obstinate, yet conscious of his own weakness, 
personal conflicts with a nature equally obstinate 
and much more vigorous were exceedingly un- 
pleasant. The collision made him writhe uneasily 
and prefer to slip out of his embarrassment as 
quietly as he could. 

The proposed leave-taking was to be very mag- 
nificent, and the magnificence again was signifi- 
cant of Burgundian wealth. Whether the duke 
would surely keep his pledge of sharing that 
wealth with the archduke if the emperor went so 
far that he could not draw back, was a considera- 
tion that undoubtedly may have affected Frederic. 
Had Mary of Burgundy accompanied her father, 
had the wedding of the daughter and investiture 
of the new king been planned for the same day, 
had the promises been exchanged simultaneously, 
the leave-taking might have passed, indeed, as a 
third ceremonial in all stateliness. 

If Frederic doubted the surety of his bargain, 
it is not surprising. It was notorious how the 
duke had played fast and loose with his daughter's 
hand, withdrawing it from the grasp of a suitor 
as the greater advantages of another alliance 
were presented to him, or as the mere disad- 
vantage of any marriage at all became unpleas- 
antly near. Vigorous man of forty that he was, 



36o Charles the Bold 

Charles had no personal desire to see a son-in-law, 
in propria persona, waiting for his shoes — a fact 
perfectly patent to the emperor, as it was to the 
rest of the world. 

The task of making the imperial adieux was 
entrusted to the imperial chamberlain, Ulrich 
von Montfort, who duly presented his master's 
formal excuses to the duke, on the morning of 
November 25th. "Important and urgent affairs 
had necessitated his presence elsewhere. The 
arrangement discussed between them was not 
broken but simply postponed until a more con- 
venient occasion rendered its execution possible,'* 
etc. 

The Strasburg chronicles report that Charles 
was in a towering rage on receiving this communi- 
cation. He clinched his fists, ground his teeth, 
and kicked the furniture about the room in which 
he had locked himself up.^ But by the time 
these words were penned, these authors were 
better informed than Charles about the ultimate 
result of the emperor's intentions. The duke 
may have been angry, but he certainly controlled 
himself sufficiently to give several audiences in 
the course of the day — to envoys from Lorraine 
among others — and was ready to take his own 
departure by evening, not doubting that the 
crown and sceptre, carefully packed with the 
mountain of his valuable treasure, would assuredly 
fulfil their destiny in the near future. Treves was 

» Chmel, i., 49-51; Toutey, p. 59. 



The Meeting at Treves 3^1 

left to its pristine repose, and Charles was the last 
man to realise that in its silence were entombed 
for ever his chances of wearing the prematurely 
prepared insignia. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

COLOGNE, LORRAINE, AND ALSACE 
I473-1474 

LATE as it was in November, the weather was 
still very mild, and as the emperor and 
duke travelled in opposite directions, neither the 
former as he went down to Cologne, nor the latter 
as he passed up the valley of the Moselle to that of 
the Ell, was hindered by autumn storms. The 
summer of 1473 had been marked by unpre- 
cedented heat and a prolonged drouth. ^ Forest 
fires raged unchecked on account of the dearth of 
water and, for the same reason, the mills stood 
still. The grape crops, indeed, were prodigious, 
but the vintage was not profitable because the 
wine had a tendency to sour. Gentle rains in 
September prepared the ground for an untimely 
fertility. Trees blossomed and, though some fruits 
withered prematurely, cherries actually ripened. 
Thus the Rhinelands presented a pleasant ap- 
pearance as Charles rode to Lorraine. 

His first pause was at Thionville in Luxemburg, 
where he stayed about a fortnight and received 

J De Roye, p. 105. 

362 



Cologne, Lorraine, and Alsace 363 

ambassadors from Hungary, Poland, Venice, 
England, Denmark, Brittany, Ferrara, the Palat- 
inate, and Cologne. 1 The result of his conference 
with the last named was a declaration on the 
duke's part which seriously affected his later 
career. The condition of Cologne must be touched 
on as an essential part of this narrative. 

The late Duke of Burgundy had attempted to 
pursue a line of policy in regard to the ecclesias- 
tical elections in the diocese of Cologne that had 
succeeded in Liege and in Utrecht. In 1463, 
he had tried to force the chapter to elect his candi- 
date. They had refused to follow his leading, 
but their own choice, Robert, brother of the elector- 
palatine, did not prove a congenial chief, and 
the new prelate turned to Philip for aid when he 
found his chapter disposed to restrict both his 
revenues and his temporal authority. Later, in 
1467, as the audacity of his opponents increased, 
the archbishop appealed to his brother, the elector, 
and to Charles of Burgundy. The latter was busy 
in France, but he wrote a sententious letter to 
Cologne, exhorting both chapter and city to be 
obedient to their chosen spiritual and lay lord. 
This intervention was resented. The breach wid- 

1 He also issued administrative orders. It was at this time 
that he instituted a high court of justice and a chamber of 
accounts at Mechlin, both designed to serve for all the Nether- 
land provinces. This measure was bitterly resented by the 
local authorities. (Fredericq. Le role politique et social des 
dues de Bourgogne, p. 183.) 



364 Charles the Bold 

ened between Robert and his people, culminating 
in actual hostilities. The chapter took possession 
of the town of Neuss, accepted Hermann of Hesse 
as their protector, and sent an embassy to Rome 
to state their grievances. The elector aided his 
brother and the belligerent parties grew in strength. 

The city of Cologne wavered for a space, unde- 
cided which cause to espouse, and finally chose the 
chapter's side, signing a five years' alliance with 
that body, which had officially renounced alle- 
giance to Robert, pending the judgment of pope 
and emperor on the dissension. Such was the 
state of affairs when Charles entered into posses- 
sion of Guelders and manifested a disposition to 
interest himself in Cologne. He informed the 
chapter that he was greatly displeased with their 
contumely. To Cologne he said, ''Be neutral," 
but the burghers showed so little inclination to 
heed his neighbourly advice that he tried harsher 
measures and permitted Cologne merchants to be 
molested in his domains. 

In 1473, ^11 hostilities were suspended in the 
hopes of imperial intervention. ^ While Charles 
was still in Guelders, Robert paid him a visit, held 
long conferences with him, and probably received 
promises of future aid, for he had an air of ar- 
rogance when he returned from the interview. 
During the sojourn of duke and emperor at 
Treves, a papal legate, the Bishop of Fossom- 

1 Letters are preserved in the Cologne archives. (Toutey, 
p. 64.) 



Cologne, Lorraine, and Alsace 365 

brone, arrived from Rome with plenary powers 
to settle Cologne affairs, and his measures were 
endorsed by Charles in a letter from Treves. 

For a time Frederic III. seemed inclined to 
refrain from interference, then something influ- 
enced him in another direction. When he ar- 
rived at Cologne in November, he received a 
warm welcome and costly gifts, which he repaid 
by conferring a mass of privileges on his "good 
city," — cheap and easy benefits, — ^but he did not 
prove an efficient arbitrator, simply postponing 
any decision from day to day, though he was 
begged to settle all difficulties before Charles 
should attempt to relieve him of the trouble. 

True, Charles was detained elsewhere. But he 
no longer felt the need of conciliating the emperor, 
and at Thionville, on December 11, 1473, he 
issued a manifesto declaring that his friend Robert 
was entirely in the right, his opponents in the 
wrong. 1 As these latter defied papal legate and 
arbitrator duly authorised to settle the points of 
dispute, he, Charles of Burgundy, would constitute 
himself defender of the insulted archbishop. At 
the same time, he despatched Etienne de Lavin 
to check the encroachments of the insolent rebels. 
The declaration emboldened Robert to defy the 
emperor's summons to meet him and the papal 
legate. They both declared that they would take 
measures to bring him to obedience, but Frederic 
did not wish to tarry longer at Cologne. In 

» Toutey, p. 66. This document is in the Cologne archives. 



366 Charles the Bold 

January he took his departure, having directed 
Hermann of Hesse to protect that see against all 
aggression. 

Apparently, at that time, in spite of the mani- 
festo, there was no formal treaty between Charles 
and Robert, but there are two drafts for such a 
treaty in existence,^ wherein the former pledged 
himself to force chapter, nobles, and city to sub- 
mission, in consideration of the sum of 200,000 
florins, while the archbishop gave permission to 
his ally to garrison all strongholds, including 
Cologne. Pending his autumn sojourn in the 
upper Rhinelands, Charles had, therefore, plans 
regarding Cologne definitely in mind. 

Lorraine 

This duchy was even more interesting to Charles 
than Cologne, and there were many matters in its 
regard which demanded his urgent attention in 
1473. It, too, was a pleasant territory, and 
conveniently adjacent to Burgundian lands. A 
natural means of annexation had been considered 
by Charles in the proposed marriage between 
Nicholas, Duke of Lorraine, and Mary of Burgundy. 
When that project was abandoned to suit Charles's 
pleasure, he retained the friendship of his re- 
jected son-in-law until the latter' s death in the 
spring of 1473. So unexpected was this event, that 

1 See Toutey, p. 66. These are printed in Lacomblet, Urk- 

unden, iv., 468, 470. 



Cologne, Lorraine, and Alsace 367 

there was the usual suspicion of poisoning, and this 
crime, too, was charged to the account of Louis 
XL, apparently without foundation. Certainly 
that monarch reaped no immediate advantage 
from the death, for the family to whom the suc- 
cession passed was more friendly to Burgundy 
than to France. 

The heir to the childless Nicholas was his aunt 
Yolande of Anjou, daughter of old King Rene 
of Anjou, sister to the unfortunate Margaret, late 
Queen of England, and widow of the Duke of 
Vaudemont. The council of Lorraine lost no 
time in acknowledging Yolande as their duchess. 
She hastened to Nancy, the capital, with her 
son Rene, aged twenty-two, where they were 
received hospitably, and then Yolande formally 
abdicated in favour of the young man, who was 
duly accepted as Duke of Lorraine. 

Now there was a large party of Burgundian 
sympathisers in Nancy, and it was probably owing 
to their pressure that very strong links were at 
once forged between Charles and the new sovereign 
of the duchy. The apprehension lest the former 
should protect the land as he had the heritage of 
his namesake, little Charles of Guelders, was 
expressed by the timorous, but their counsels 
were overweighted, and, on October 15th, Rene 
accepted a treaty whose terms were very favour- 
able to Burgundy. In exchange for being *' pro- 
tector," — an office that the emperor had already 
been asked to change into suzerainty, — Rene 



368 Charles the Bold 

cemented an alliance, offensive and defensive, 
with Charles, giving the latter full permission to 
march his forces across Lorraine. Further, he 
pledged himself to appoint as officials in all im- 
portant places on the route ''men bound by oath 
to the Duke of Burgundy." Yes, more, these 
were discharged from fidelity to Rene in case he 
abandoned Burgundian interests. 

Yolande of Vaudemont endorsed these arti- 
cles by adding her signature to that of her son. 
Charles feared, however, that the provisions might 
not be adhered to by the Lorrainers — so humili- 
ating were the terms — and exacted in addition the 
signatures of the chief nobles. On November 
1 8th, seventy-four of these gentlemen attested 
their approval of an act that practically delivered 
their land to a stranger, — evidence that they 
doubted the ability of their hereditary chief, and 
preferred Burgundy to France. 

There is a story that Charles tried other methods 
than diplomacy, before he got the better of the 
young duke in this bargain, that he actually had 
him stolen away from the castle of Joinville 
where he was staying with his mother, i Louis 
promptly came forward and arrested a nephew of 
the emperor, a student in the University of Paris, 
and kept him as a hostage until the release of 
Rene. Rumour, too, asserts that there was a 

1 Jean de Roye is the only contemporary to tell this story. 
Both Toutey and Kirk reject it. (See Toutey, p. 76; Kirk, 
ii., 271.) 



Cologne, Lorraine, and Alsace 3^9 

treaty of Joinville, wherein Rene asserted his 
friendship with Louis, which was intermitted by 
his relations with Charles, to be resumed later. 
That also seems to be improbable. The formal 
alliance with Louis did not come then, though 
the king took immediate care to build up a party 
in his behalf in Lorraine, and to keep himself in- 
formed of the progress of the new regime. 

From Thionville, Charles journeyed on to 
Nancy, where he was welcomed by his protege, 
outside the city walls, and the two rode in to- 
gether as the duke and the emperor had entered 
Treves. Charles had been so long keeping up a 
show of obsequiousness which he did not feel that, 
undoubtedly, he enjoyed again being the first 
personage.^ He refused, however, to accept the 
young man's hospitality, and spent the two 
days of his sojourn in the house of a certain Mal- 
hortie, where he felt more at ease in his confer- 
ences with Lorrainers willing to proceed further 
to the disadvantage of their new sovereign. 

The ally certainly became more exigeant. In 
various towns on the Moselle, Epinal, Charmes, 
Dompaire, etc., the Lorraine soldiers were re- 
placed by Burgundians. This immediate and 
arrogant use of the rights he had wrested from 
the Duke of Lorraine alienated many who had 
been warm for Burgundy. Rene himself ad- 
mired Charles as Maximilian had done. The strong 
man exercised a fascination over both youths, 

1 Toutey's suggestion. 

S 



370 Charles the Bold 

but the duke did not turn this admiration into real 
friendship, underestimating the character of his 
protege. His measures, too, were taken without 
the slightest consideration for local feeling. Gar- 
rison after garrison was installed and commanded 
to obey his officers alone, while the soldiers were- 
allowed to levy their own rations, equivalent to 
raids on a friendly country. As always, the 
agglomeration of mercenary companies was 
difficult to control. The duke did not succeed in 
having those remote from his jurisdiction kept in 
due restraint. Complaints began to pour into 
his headquarters. Public sentiment shifted day 
by day. The Burgundian became the personifica- 
tion of a public foe. Before Charles proceeded on 
his way to Alsace, Rene had begun to lose his 
admiration and it was not long before he impa- 
tiently awaited an opportunity to break with 
his too doughty protector. 

Alsace 

During the four years that Charles had de- 
layed in coming to look at the result of the bargain 
of 1469 in the Rhine valley, his lieutenant, Peter 
von Hagenbach, had given the inhabitants rea- 
son to regret the easy-going absentee Austrian 
seigneurs. Much had been done, undoubtedly, in 
restraining the lawlessness of the robber barons. 
The roads were well policed, and safety was 
assured to travellers. ''I spy," was the motto 



Cologne, Lorraine, and Alsace 371 

blazoned on the livery of the forces led by Hagen- 
bach up and down the land, until he had unearthed 
lurking vagabonds. It was acknowledged that 
gold and silver could be carried openly from place 
to place, and that night journeys were as safe as 
day. Still, this advantageous change had not 
won popularity for the man who wrought it. 
Perhaps the people thought it less burdensome to 
make their own little bargains with highwaymen 
or petty nobles, ^ a law unto themselves, tharf to 
meet the rigorous requisitions of the Burgundian 
tax collector. 

It was the country that had profited most by 
the new administration. The small towns had 
long enjoyed great independence, and had shown 
ability in managing their own affairs. They 
wanted no interference. Not liked by those 
whom he had really protected, Hagenbach was 
absolutely hated by the burghers who felt his iron 
hand, without acknowledging that its pressure 
had more good than evil in it. 

Then there were the neighbours to be considered. 
The Swiss had hated Sigismund and all Austrians, 
and had been prepared to prefer Burgundy as a 
power in the Rhinelands. But Hagenbach took 
no pains to win their friendship. His insolent 
fashion of referring to them as "fellows" or 
"rascals," added to acts of aggression, unchecked 
if not condoned by him, aroused bitter dislike 

J All sons inherited their father's title, so that there were 
many landless lords. 



372 Charles the Bold 

to him in the confederated cantons, ^ and in their 
allies, Berne, Mulhouse, etc. By 1473, there 
was a growing sentiment in Helvetia that they 
would be happier if Austria had her own again, 
while the uneasiness in the cities that stood alone 
had greatly increased. 

Within Hagenbach's immediate jurisdiction, the 
opposition to his measures took a definite form 
long before the duke's arrival there. The various 
commissioners sent by Charles to inspect the 
quality of his bargain had all agreed in an urgent 
recommendation to the duke to redeem, at the 
earliest possible moment, all the troublesome 
mortgages honeycombing his authority. Hagen- 
bach, too, was fully convinced of the necessity 
for this measure, but he was not provided with 
sufficient money to accomplish it. 

In the spring of 1473, therefore, he resolved to 
lay a new tax on wine. This impost, called the 
"Bad Penny," was bitterly resented for two reasons. 
The burden was oppressive to the vintners and 
it was an illegal measure, as no sanction had been 
given by the local estates. Three towns, Thann, 
Ensisheim, and Brisac, declared that they were 
determined to refuse payment. 

Hagenbach marched a force into the Engelburg, 
a stronghold dominating Thann, bombarded the 
town, and took it easily. Thirty citizens were 

1 At this period there were eight in the confederation, which 
was a loose structure in which each member preserved her 
individuaHty. 



Cologne, Lorraine, and Alsace 373 

condemned to death as leaders in an iniquitous 
rebellion against the just orders of their lawful 
governor. Some of these, indeed, were pardoned, 
though their estates were confiscated, but five 
or six were publicly executed, and their bodies 
hung exposed to view on the market-place, as a 
hideous object-lesson of the cost of resisting 
Burgundian orders. 

One execution sufficed to render Ensisheim 
submissive, but Brisac proved more obstinate. 
The magistrates there did not resort to force. 
They declared there was no need, for they were 
fully protected by the article in the treaty of St. 
Omer, which forbade arbitrary imposition of any 
tax on the part of the suzerain. Their deter- 
mined refusal made the lieutenant consent to re- 
fer the question to the Duke of Burgundy, and 
messengers were despatched to Treves to repre- 
sent the respective grievances of governor and 
governed. The collection of the tax was post- 
poned until Charles could examine the situation. 

A determined effort to bring the independent 
town of Mulhouse under Burgundian sway was 
another act of 1473, fanning opposition to a white 
heat that forged organised resistance to any 
extension of Burgundian authority. For three 
years, Hagenbach had endeavoured to convince 
the burghers of that imperial city that they would 
be wise to accept the duke's protection and have 
their debts paid. The latter were, indeed, op- 
pressive, but there was fear lest "protection" 



374 Charles the Bold 

might be more so, and conference after conference 
failed to produce the acquiescence desired by 
Hagenbach. 

In 1473, that zealous servant of Burgundy de- 
clared that if the burghers persisted in their refusal 
he would resort to force. Their reply was that 
Mulhouse could not take such an important 
step without consulting her friends, the Swiss. 
"Are the cantons going to help you pay your 
debts?" was the sneering comment of Hagenbach. 
" Mulhouse is a bad weed in arose garden, a plant 
that must be extirpated. Its submission would 
make a charming pleasure ground out of the 
Sundgau, Alsace, and Breisgau. The duke knew 
no city which he would prefer to Mulhouse for 
a sojourn," were his further statements.^ 

Two days were given to the town council for an 
answer. Hagenbach remarked that it was use- 
less to think that time could be gained until the 
mortgaged territories should return to Austria. 
" Far from planning redemption, Duke Sigismund 
is now preparing to cede to Charles le temeraire as 
much again of his domain and vassals." Still 
Mulhouse was not convinced that the only course 
open to her was to let Charles pay her debts and 
receive her homage. No answer was forthcoming 
in the two days, but ready scribes had prepared 
many copies of Hagenbach' s letter, which were 

1 See Toutey, p. 82, who quotes from the Cartulaire de Mul- 
house , iv., et passim. This last furnishes the details for these 
passages. 



Cologne, Lorraine, and Alsace 375 

sent to all who might be interested in checking 
these proposals of Burgundy. 

On February 24, 1473, a Swiss diet met at Lau- 
sanne and there the matter was weighed. Ha- 
genbach's letter was shown to those who had not 
seen it, and methods of rescuing Mulhouse from 
her dilemma were carefully considered. Years 
ago a union had existed between the forest cantons 
and the Alsatian cities. There were propositions 
to renew this alliance so as to present a strong front 
to their Burgundian neighbour. The cantons 
had enough to do with their own affairs, but the 
result of the discussion was that, on March 14th, 
a ten-year Alsatian confederation was formed in 
imitation of the Swiss. 

The chief members were Basel, Colmar, Mul- 
house, Schlestadt, and two dioceses, and it is re- 
ferred to as the Basse-Union or the Lower Union, 
the purposes being to guarantee mutually the rights 
of the contracting parties, to meet for discussion 
on various questions, and, specifically, to help 
Mulhouse pay her debts. A few days later, 
March 19th, there was a fresh proposition to 
make an alliance between this Basse-Union and 
the Swiss confederation. This required a refer- 
endum. Each Swiss delegate received a copy 
of the articles to take back to his constituents for 
their consideration. No bond between the confed- 
eration and the union was, however, in exist- 
ence at the time when Charles was approaching 
Alsace. Various conciliatory measures on his 



376 Charles the Bold 

part had somewhat lessened immediate opposi- 
tion to him, but, nevertheless, there were frequent 
conferences about affairs. Diets were almost 
continuous and there were strenuous efforts to 
raise money to free Mulhouse from her hampering 
financial embarrassments. 

Hagenbach had not followed up his threats 
of immediate war measures, but it was known 
that he had obtained imperial authorisation to 
assume the jurisdiction of Mulhouse, a step 
which her allies hoped to forestall by settling her 
debts. Strasburg offered to contribute six hun- 
dred florins, Berne and Soleure seven hundred, 
Basel four hundred, while Colmar, Schlestadt, 
Obernai, and Kaisersberg together hoped to raise 
another four hundred. A diet was called at 
Basel for December nth, and Ziirich and Lucerne 
were expected to enter into the union. The tid- 
ings of the duke's approach were undoubtedly 
a stimulus to these renewed efforts to make the 
league strong enough to withstand him. The 
sentiment expressed by the pious Knebel, "May 
God protect us from his mighty hand," voiced 
probably a wide-spread dread. 

When Charles entered Alsace, his escort was 
large enough to inspire fear, but there was no 
opposition to his advance, though consultations, 
now at one city, now at another, were frequent. 
The duke paid little heed to their deliberations, 
under-estimating their importance, while he was 
gracious to any words of welcome offered to him. 



Cologne, Lorraine, and Alsace 377 

Strasburg sent him greetings while he rested at 
Chatenois, and so did Colmar. The latter town 
expressed her willingness to receive him and an 
escort of one or two hundred, but was firm in her 
refusal to admit a larger force within her walls. 
By this precaution, Charles was baffled in his plot 
to gain possession of the town, and so passed on 
his way. 

On Christmas eve, the traveller made a formal 
entry into Brisac, where a temporary court was 
established, and where audience was given to 
various embassies with the customary Burgundian 
pomp. Meanwhile the troops, forced to camp 
without the walls, were a burden to the land, 
and seem to have been more odious than usual 
to their unwilling hosts. 

The citizens of Brisac offered homage on their 
knees and had their hopes raised high by their 
suzerain's pleasant greeting, but they failed to 
obtain the hoped-for assurance that the treaty 
of St. Omer should be observed in all respects. 
Among the envoys were many who undertook to 
remonstrate in a friendly fashion about the imposi- 
tion of the '* Bad Penny " tax on the Alsatians, and 
the over-severity of Hagenbach's administration. 
The cause of Mulhouse, too, was urged, notably by 
Berne. The representations of these last envoys 
were received most courteously. The duke rather 
thought that the city could be detached from the 
league, and therefore gave himself some trouble 
to establish friendly relations. 



378 Charles the Bold 

To Mulhouse, too, his tone was c6nciliatory. 
He wrote a pleasant letter to the town and de- 
spatched a councillor thither, who would, he 
assured them, arrange matters to their satisfaction. 
But an abortive coup d'etat on the part of the 
Burgundians, which would have given them pos- 
session of Basel, destroyed the effect of these 
reassuring phrases. The burghers were warned in 
time, looked to their defences, and banished from 
their midst every individual suspected of Bur- 
gundian sympathies. Every newcomer was care- 
fully scrutinised before he was admitted within the 
walls, and the Rhine was guarded most rigidly. The 
propriety of these precautions was soon proven. 

Charles ordered a review at Ensisheim, the 
official capital of the landgraviate. Thither 
marched his troops from every quarter. Those 
from Sackingen, Lauffen, and Waldshut found 
their shortest route over the bridge at Basel, and 
there they appeared and begged to be allowed 
to cross. Their sincerity was doubted, and the 
least foothold on the city's territory was sternly 
refused then and a week later, when the request 
was renewed. The method of introducing friendly 
troops into a town and then seizing it by a sudden 
coup de main was what Charles had been suspected 
of plotting for Metz, and later for Colmar, and 
there seems to be no doubt that a third essay of 
this rather stupid stratagem was planned, only to 
fail again, and this time to be peculiarly disastrous 
in its reflex action. 



Cologne, Lorraine, and Alsace 379 

The review took place and the strength of the 
Burgundian mercenaries was duly displayed to 
the Alsatians, but no satisfactory assurances were 
given to Brisac and the other towns that their 
suzerain would restrict his measures of taxation 
and administration to the stipulations of the 
contract of St. Omer. On the contrary, when 
Charles passed on to Burgundy it was plain to all 
that he had not restricted the powers of his lieu- 
tenant in any respect, but rather had endorsed his 
general method of procedure. 

One night was spent at Thann^ and then the 
duke took his leave of the annexed region whose 

1 In this account Toutey's conclusions are accepted. There 
are discrepancies as to dates among the various chroniclers. 
The duke's itinerary as given in Comines-Lenglet (ii., 211) 
does not agree with that of Knebel and others. But the 
facts of the narrative are little affected by the variations. 
The following is the itinerary accepted by Toutey : 

Dep. from Ensisheim Jan. 8 

Stay at Thann " 9-10 

Dep. from Belfort " 11 

Besangon " 17 

Auxonne, slept " 18 

Dijon, a " 23 

Dijon, d Feb. 19, 1474 

Auxonne, slept " 20 

Dale " 2i-March 8 

(Invested with the Franche Comt^ of Burgundy.) 

Besanfon March 12 or 15 

Vesoul and Luxeuil March 23-28 

Lorraine " 28 

Luxemburg Apr. 4-June 9 

Easter fetes " 10 

Fete of the Order of the Garter " 23 

Brussels June 2 7 



380 Charles the Bold 

people had hoped so much from his visit to them. 
In mid-January he arrived at Besangon, his winter 
journeying being wonderfully easy in the unpre- 
cedentedly mild weather. 

Hagenbach lost no time in proceeding to the 
levying of the impost now approved by the duke, 
who had at the same time expressly ordered that 
the people were to be treated mildly, and that 
summary punishment was to check all excesses 
on the part of the eight hundred Picards em- 
ployed by Hagenbach to aid the tax collector. 
The governor, however, saw no further need for 
gentle treatment or for respect to privileges. In 
Brisac, municipal elections were arbitrarily set 
aside, and officers appointed by the governor. 
The corporation was curtailed of power, and the 
burghers were forced to prepare to march against 
Mulhouse. 

Having accomplished his duty to his own satis- 
faction, Hagenbach proceeded to give himself 
some relaxation. His own marriage took place 
on January 24th, and he celebrated the occasion 
with great f^tes. It is of this period in Hagen- 
bach's life that the stories of gross excess are told.^ 
It seems as though, having once abandoned re- 
straint towards the city, his personal passions, 
too, were permitted to run riot, and he spared 
no wife nor maid to whom he took a fancy. 

As he had succeeded in impressing the "Bad 

» Kirk considers that they are well founded and too inde- 
cent to repeat. 



Cologne, Lorraine, and Alsace 381 

Penny" on the little independent landowners, he 
tried to extend it to the territory of the Bishop 
of Basel. Vehement was the opposition which 
was reported to the duke, who promptly ordered 
his lieutenant to restore the prisoners he had taken 
and to cease his aggressions. Charles was not 
ready to meet the Swiss, and was willing to defer 
an issue, but he was wholly ignorant of the real 
strength of the confederation. Hagenbach then 
proceeded to make a stronghold of Brisac and 
waited for further action. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE FIRST REVERSES 
I474-I475 

'^ \\TJ10 is this that cometh, this that is glo- 
V V rious in his apparel, travelHng in the 
greatness of his strength?" These words in 
Latin, on scrolls fluttering from the hands of 
living angels, met the eyes of Charles of Bur- 
gundy at his retarded arrival in Dijon. And the 
confident duke had no wish to disclaim the subtle 
flattery of the implied comparison between him 
and the subject of the words of the prophet.^ 

The traveller had slept at Perigny, about a 
league from the capital of Burgundy, so as to 
make the last stage of his journey thither in leis- 
urely state. Unpropitious weather on Saturday, 
January 2 2d, the appointed day, made postpone- 
ment of the ducal parade necessary, out of con- 
sideration for the precious hangings and costly 
ecclesiastical robes that were to grace the cere- 
monies of reception and investiture. Fortunately, 
Sunday, January 23d, dawned fair, and heralds 

iPlancher, Histoire generate et particulikre de Bourgogne, 
avec des notes et des preuves justificative s, iv., cccxxviii. 

38»2 



The First Reverses 383 

rode through the city streets at an early hour, 
proclaiming the duke's gracious intention to 
make his entry on that day. Immediately, tapes- 
tries were spread and every one was alert with the 
last preparations. 

Lavish was the display of biblical phrases, like 
that cited, which were planted along the ducal 
way and on a succession of stagings erected for 
various exhibits. On the great city square, the 
platform was capacious and many actors played 
out divers roles. Here stood the scroll-bearing 
angels on either side of a living representation of 
Christ. In the background clustered three sep- 
arate groups of people representing, respectively, 
the three Estates. Above their heads more in- 
scriptions were to be read.^ "All the nations 
desire to see the face of Solomon," "Behold him 
desired by all races," "Master, look on us, thy 
people, " were among the legends. 

The stately pageant, in which dignitaries, lay 
and ecclesiastical, from other parts of the duke's 
domains participated, proceeded past all these 
soothing insinuations that Charles of Burgundy 
resembled Solomon in more ways than one, to 
the church of St. Benigne. Here pledges of mu- 

1 Preparations for the duke's visit to Dijon had been set on 
foot almost immediately after Philip's death in 1467. One 
Frere Gilles had devoted many hours to searching the Script- 
ures for appropriate texts to figure in the reception. Every 
phrase indicating leonine strength was noted down. The 
good brother died before the anticipated event came to pass 
but the result of his patient labour was preserved. 



384 Charles the Bold 

tual fidelity were exchanged between the Burgun- 
dians and their ruler. The Abbe of Citeaux 
placed the ducal ring solemnly upon Charles's 
finger as a symbol, and he was invested with all 
the prerogatives of his predecessors. 

From the church, the train wound its way to 
the Ste. Chapelle, past more stages decorated 
with more flowers of scriptural phrase such as *' A 
lion which is strongest among beasts and turneth 
not away for any," ''The lion hath roared, who 
will not fear?" "The righteous are as bold as a 
lion," etc. 

Two days later, the concluding ceremonies of 
investiture were performed, and followed by a 
banquet. Charles was arrayed in royal robes, 
and his hat was in truth a crown, gorgeous with 
gold, pearls, and precious stones. After a repast, 
prelates, nobles, and civic deputies were convened 
in a room adjoining the dining-hall, where first 
they listened to a speech from the chancellor. 
When he had finished, the duke himself delivered 
an harangue wherein he expatiated on the splen- 
dours of the ancient kingdom of Burgundy. 
Wrongfully usurped by the French kings, it had 
been belittled into a duchy, a measure much to 
be regretted by the Burgundians. Then the 
speaker broke off abruptly with an ambiguous 
intimation " that he had in reserve certain things 
that none might know but himself."^ 

1 Dit qu'il avoit en soi des chose s qui n'appartenoient de scavoir 
h nuls que a lui (Plancher, Preuves, iv., cccxxxiii.)- 



The First Reverses 385 

What was the significance of these veiled al- 
lusions? It could not have been the simple scheme 
to erect a kingdom, because that was certainly 
known to many. Charles had, doubtless, an 
ostrich-like quality of mind which made him ob- 
livious to the world's vision but even he could 
hardly have ignored the prevalence of the rumours 
regarding the interview of Treves, rumours flying 
north, east, south, and west. Might not this sug- 
gestion of secrets yet untold have had reference 
to the ripening intentions of Edward IV. and 
himself to divide France between them? 

When his own induction into his heritage was 
accomplished, Charles was ready to pay the last 
earthly tribute to his parents. A cortege had 
been coming slowly from Bruges bearing the 
bodies of Philip and Isabella to their final resting- 
place in the tomb at Dijon, to which they were at 
last consigned.^ 

A few weeks more Charles tarried in the city 
of his birth, and then went to Dole where he was 
invested with the sovereignty of the Franche- 
Comte and confirmed the privileges. Thus after 
seven years of possession de facto, he first actually 
completed the formalities needful for the legal 
acquisition of his paternal heritage. The expan- 
sion of that heritage had been steady for over 
half a century. Every inch of territory that had 

» Plancher, Preuves, iv., cccxxxiii. The document describing 
this ceremony gives February 28th as the date, but that is 
evidently an error and not accepted. 

»5 



386 Charles the Bold 

come under the shadow of the family's adminis- 
tration had remained there, quickly losing its 
ephemeral character, so that temporary holdings 
were regarded in the same light as the estates actu- 
ally inherited. At least, Charles, sovereign duke, 
count, overlord, mortgagee, made no distinction 
in the natures of his tenures. But just as the last 
link was legally riveted in his own chain of lands, he 
was to learn that there were other points of view. 

The statement is made and repeated, that the 
report of the duke's after-dinner speech at Dijon 
was a fresh factor in alarming the people in Alsace 
and Switzerland about his intentions, and making 
them hasten to shake off every tie that connected 
them with Charles and his ambitious projects of 
territorial expansion. As a matter of fact, there 
had been for months constant agitation in the 
councils of the Swiss Confederation and the Lower 
Union as to the next action. 

Opposition to Sigismund had been long exist- 
ent, antipathy to Austria was so deeply rooted 
that the idea of restoring that suzerainty in the 
Rhine valley was slow to gain adherents. Proba- 
bly the arguments that came from France were 
what carried conviction. It was a time when 
Louis spared no expense to attain the end he 
desired, while he posed as a benevolent neutral. ^ 
His servants worked underground. Their open 

»Toutey, p. 117. 

2 There are many records in the BibL not. of the sums paid 
out to the Swiss at this time. 



The First Reverses 387 

work was very cautious. It was French envoys, 
however, who announced to the Swiss Diet, con- 
vened at Lucerne, that Sigismund was quite ready 
to come to an understanding in regard to an alH- 
ance and the redemption of his mortgaged lands. 

That was on January 21, 1474, the very day 
when the mortgagee was preparing to ride into 
Dijon and read the agreeable assurances of his 
wisdom, strength, and puissance. Yet a month 
and Sigismund's envoys were seated on the official 
benches at the Basel diet, ranking with the dele- 
gates from the cantons and the emissaries from 
France. On March 27th, the diet met at Con- 
stance, and for three days a debate went on 
which resulted in the drafting of the Ewige Rich- 
tung, the Reglement definitif, a document which 
contained a definite resolution that the mortgaged 
lands were to be completely withdrawn from 
Burgundy, and all financial claims settled. This 
resolution was subscribed to by Sigismund and 
the Swiss cantons. Further, it was decided to 
ignore one or two of the stipulations made at St. 
Omer and to offer payment to Charles at Basel 
instead of Besangon. 

Meantime that creditor, perfectly convinced in 
his own mind that the legends of his birthplace 
were correct in their rating of his character and 
his qualities, again crossed Lorraine and entered 
Luxemburg, where he celebrated Easter. It was 
shortly after that festival, on April 17th, that 
a letter from Sigismund was delivered to him an- 



388 Charles the Bold 

nouncing in rather casual and off-hand terms 
that he was now in a position to repay the loan of 
1469, made on the security of those Rhinelands. 
Therefore the Austrian would hand over at Basel 
80,000 florins, 40,000 the sum received by him, 
10,000 paid in his behalf to the Swiss, and 30,000 
which he understood that Charles had expended 
during his temporary incumbency,^ and he, Sigis- 
mund, would resume the sovereignty in Alsace. 

It was all very simple, at least Sigismund's wish 
was. The expressions employed in the paper 
were, however, so ambiguous, the language so 
involved, that Charles expended severe criticism 
on his cousin's style before he proceeded to answer 
his subject-matter. To that he replied that the 
bargain between him and Sigismund was none of 
his seeking. The latter had implored his pro- 
tection from the Swiss, had begged relief in his 
financial straits. Touched by his petitions, 
Charles had acceded to his prayers and the lands 
had enjoyed security under Burgundian protec- 
tion as they never had under Austrian. Charles 
had duly acquitted himself of his obligations, he 
had done nothing to forfeit his title. The con- 
ditions of redemption offered by Sigismund were 
not those expressly stipulated. If a commission 
were sent to Besangon, the duke would see to 
it that the merits of the case were properly 
examined. 

"If, on the contrary, you shall adhere to the purpose 

> Chmel, i., 92 et seq. 



The First Reverses 3^9 

you have declared, in violation of the terms of the 
contract and of your princely word, we shall make 
resistance, trusting with God's help that our ability 
in defence shall not prove inferior to what we have 
used to repulse the attacks of the Swiss — those attacks 
from which you sought and received our protection." 

Before this letter reached its destination, the 
duke's deputy in the mortgaged lands had already 
found his resources wholly inadequate to maintain 
his master's authority. After Charles departed 
from Alsace, Hagenbach's increased insolence and 
abandonment of all the restraint that he had shown 
while awaiting the duke's visit soon became un- 
bearable. The deliberations in Switzerland con- 
cerning their return to Austrian domination also 
naturally affected the Alsatians and made them 
bolder in resenting Hagenbach's aggressions. 

Thann and Ensisheim were both firm in refusing 
admission to his garrisons. Brisac was in his 
hands already, and her fortifications held by mer- 
cenaries, but an order to the citizens to work, one 
and all, upon the defences, produced a sudden dis- 
turbance with very serious results. It was at 
Eastertide, and the command to desecrate a 
hallowed festival, one especially cherished in the 
Rhinelands, proved the final provocation to 
rebellion. 

There is a black story in the Strasburg chronicle, 
moreover, that this misuse of Easter Day was not 
Hagenbach's real crime. He simply wished to get 
all combatants out of the city before butchering 



390 Charles the Bold 

the inhabitants and his purpose was discovered in 
time. That charge does not, however, seem sub- 
stantiated by other evidence. But there is no 
doubt that the citizens lashed themselves into a 
state of fury, fell upon the mercenaries, and killed 
many of them in spite of their own unarmed 
condition. Hagenbach, driven back into his lodg- 
ings, appeared at the window and offered various 
concessions, being actually humbled and intimi- 
dated by the unexpected turning of the submis- 
sive folk against him. 

But the revolutionary spirit raged beyond the 
reach of conciliatory words. Some of the more 
intelligent burghers endeavoured to give a show of 
propriety to events, by promptly re-establishing 
their own ancient council, arbitrarily abolished 
by Hagenbach, while taking a new oath to the 
Duke of Burgundy, according to the formula of 
1469. They also despatched envoys to the duke 
with explanations of their proceedings, stating 
further that it was Hagenbach's misrule alone 
to which protest was made; that they were not 
in revolt against Charles. The latter answered, 
''Send Hagenbach to me," but the provisional 
government, by the time they received this order, 
felt strong enough to disregard it and to continue 
to act on their own initiative. 

Hagenbach was cast not only into prison but 
into irons. All fear of and respect for his authori- 
ity was thrown to the winds, his offer of fourteen 
thousand florins as ransom being sternly refused. 



The First Reverses 391 

Deputations came from the confederation to 
congrattdate the officials de facto and to promise 
aid. The next step gave the He direct to the 
message sent to Charles upholding his authority 
while protesting against his lieutenant. Sigis- 
mund was urged to return to his own without fur- 
ther delay for legal formalities with his creditor. 
He assented. On April 30th, accordingly, the 
Austrian duke arrived in Brisac and picked up the 
reins of authority which he had joyfully dropped 
four years previously. 

The rabble welcomed his coming with effusion, 
singing a ready parody of an Easter hymn : ^ 

''Christ is arisen, the landvogt is in prison, 
Let us all rejoice, Sigismund is our choice. 

Kyrie Eleison! 
Had he not been snared, evil had it fared. 
But now that he is ta'en, his craft is all in vain. 
Kyrie Eleison!" 

Thus it was under Sigismund 's auspices that the 
late governor was brought to trial. Instru- 
ments of torture sent from Basel were employed 
to make Hagenbach confess his crimes. But 
there was nothing to confess. As a matter of 
fact the charges against him were for well-known 
deeds the character of which depended on the 
point of view. What the Alsatians declared 
were infringements of their rights, the duke's 
deputy stoutly asserted were acts justified by the 

1 Kirk, ii., 488. ^ 



392 Charles the Bold 

terms of the treaty. In regard to his private 
career the prisoner persisted in his statement that 
he was no worse than other men and that all 
his so-called victims had been willing and well 
rewarded for their submission to him. 

On May 9th, the preliminaries were declared 
over and the trial began before a tribunal whose 
composition is not perfectly well known, but 
w^hich certainly included delegates from the 
chief cities of the landgraviate, and from Stras- 
burg, Basel, and Berne. ^ 

The trial was practically lynch law in spite of 
the cloak of legality thrown over it. Charles alone 
was Hagenbach's principal and he alone was 
responsible for his lieutenant's acts. The intrinsic 
incompetence of the court was hotly urged by 
Jean Irma of Basel, Hagenbach's self-appointed 
advocate, but his defence was rejected. Public 
opinion insisted upon extreme measures, and the 
sentence of capital punishment was promptly fol- 
lowed by execution. 

Petitions from the prisoner that he might die by 
the sword and be permitted to bequeath a portion 
of his property to the church of St. Etienne at 
Brisac were granted. The remainder of his wealth 
was confiscated by Sigismund, who had withdrawn 
to Fribourg during the progress of the trial. Even 
Hagenbach's bitterest foes acknowledged that the 
late governor made a dignified and Christian exit 
from the life he had not graced. 

1 Toutey, p. 141. 



The First Reverses 393 

Charles is said to have beaten well the messenger 
who brought him the news of this trial and exe- 
cution, in the very presence of Sigismund who 
had not yet bought back his rights in the land- 
graviate, where he had appointed Oswald von 
Thierstein as governor, and where he was thus 
presuming to use sovereign power. This was not 
sufficient, however, to make the duke change his 
own plans. Stephen von Hagenbach was en- 
trusted with the commission of punishing the 
Alsatians for his brother's ignominious deposi- 
tion, and he did his task grimly. According to the 
Strasburg chronicler, this Hagenbach, at the north, 
and his colleague, the Count of Blamont, at the 
south, did not have more than six or eight thou- 
sand men apiece, but they left Hun-like reputations 
behind them. Devastation, slaughter, pillage in 
houses and churches, all in the name of the duke, 
contributed to the zeal with which the Austrian's 
return was ratified by popular acclamation, and 
with which the contingents sent to Alsace by the 
confederates were received. 

Sigismund 's letter to Charles is casual in tone 
and obscure in phraseology. A statement pre- 
sented somewhat later to the emperor by the 
Basse Union is more precise in the justification 
offered for the events and in the grievances re- 
hearsed. ^ That is, Sigismund treats the transac- 
tion as a purely financial one, naturally completed 
between him and his creditor by the offer to 

1 Text given by Toutey, Pieces justificatives, p. 442. 



394 Charles the Bold 

liquidate his debt. The plea made by the Al- 
satians and their friends is, that Charles had failed 
to keep his solemn engagements and that his ap- 
pointed lieutenant had been peculiarly odious 
and had broken the laws of God and man, and 
that the mercenaries employed by him, the Bur- 
gundians, Lombardians, and their fellows, had 
pitilessly ravaged the county of Ferrette, the 
Sundgau, and the diocese of Basel. The charges 
are itemised.^ 

**A11 this, well-known to the Duke of Burgundy, 
has neither been checked nor punished by him. 
In consequence, our gracious Seigneur of Austria has 
been obliged to restore the land and people to his 
sovereignty and that of the House of Austria, which he 
has done with God's aid to prevent the complete anni- 
hilation and total destruction of land and people." 

Charles did not hasten to Alsace to settle 
matters in person, but pursued his intention of 
reducing Cologne to the archbishop's control, 
undoubtedly thinking that the base which would 
then be open to the archbishop's protector on the 
lower Rhine would facilitate his operations in the 
upper valleys. Meanwhile the Emperor Frederic 
had emphatically declared that he alone was the 
Defender of the Diocese, and that the unholy 
alliance between Robert and Charles was a menace 
to the empire. His letters to Charles exhorted 
him to abandon the enterprise and to accept 

1 The details are very brutal and untranslatable. 



The First Reverses 395 

mediation ; those to the electors, princes, and cities 
of the empire urged them to defend Cologne against 
Burgundy until he himself arrived on the scene. 
There was a hot correspondence between all 
parties concerned, from which nothing resulted. 
Charles had various reasons for delay. There 
was trouble in other quarters of his domain. 
Flanders was in a state of ferment at his requisi- 
tions for money, and the Franche-Comte was on the 
point of making active resistance to the imposition 
of the gahelle. 

In view of all these complications, Charles de- 
cided to prolong his truce with Louis XI., to May 
I, 1475. That monarch was well pleased to con- 
tinue to pursue his own plans under cover of 
neutrality. The determination of the anti-Bur- 
gundian coalition in Germany to keep Charles 
within the limits of his own estates was a pleasant 
sight to the French king, and he felt that he could 
afford to wait. 

In June an edict was sent forth from Luxem- 
burg, forbidding all owing allegiance to the Duke 
of Burgundy to have any commercial relations 
with the rebels of Cologne, or of Alsace, or with 
the cities of the Basse Union, and declaring the 
duke's intention to take the field at once, to rein- 
state the archbishop in his rightful see. This was 
a declaration of war and was speedily followed 
by the duke's advance to Maestricht, where he 
spent a few days in July, collecting a force which 
finally amounted to about twenty thousand men. 



39^ Charles the Bold 

On the 29th he sat down before Neuss, which 
had again emphatically refused entry to him and 
his troops. Three days the duke gave himself for 
the reduction of the town, but there he remained 
encamped for nearly a whole year! Neuss was 
resolved to resist to the last extremity, while 
Bonn, Andernach, and Cologne contributed their 
assistance by worrying and harassing the besiegers 
to the best of their ability. It was a period when 
Charles seemed to have only one sure ally, and 
that was Edward of England, whose own plans 
were forming for a mighty enterprise — no less 
than a new invasion of France. 

On July 25th, the very day that Charles was 
on his march up to Neuss, his envoys signed at 
London a treaty wherein the duke promised 
Edward six thousand men to aid him to ''recon- 
quer his realm of France." Nothing loth to dis- 
pose of his future chickens, Edward, in his turn, 
pledged himself to cede to Charles and his heirs, 
without any lien of vassalage, the duchy of Bar, 
the countships of Champagne, Nevers, Rethel, Eu, 
and Guise, all the towns on the Somme, and all the 
estates of the Count of St. Pol. Other territories 
of Charles were to be exempt from homage. Yes, 
and by June i, 1475, Edward would land in France 
and set about his conquests. Nor were commer- 
cial interests forgotten ; " to the duchess his sister 
(to the Flemings) is accorded permission to take 
from England wool, woollen goods, brass, lead, 
and to carry thither foreign merchandise." 



The First Reverses 397 

The year when Charles was waiting before the 
gates of Neuss was full of many abortive diplo- 
matic efforts on the part of both the duke and 
Louis XI, and it was the latter who managed to 
save something even from broken bargains. The 
Swiss not only counted on his friendship, but 
were constantly encouraged by his money, which 
emboldened them to send a letter of open defiance 
to Charles: ''We declare to your most serene 
highness and to all of your people, in behalf of 
ourselves and our friends, an honourable and an 
open war." To the herald who delivered this 
document Charles answered: " Berne, Berne!" ^ 
He felt that he had been betrayed. 

This was on October 26th. The defiance was 
followed b}^ a descent of the mountaineers upon 
Alsace, which Charles had not yet released from 
his grasp. Stephen von Hagenbach prepared 
to defend Burgundian interests at Hericourt, a 
good strategic position on the tiny Luzine. Here, 
the Swiss were about to besiege him, when the 
Count of Blamont arrived with two bodies of 
Italian mercenaries, aggregating more than twelve 
thousand men, and attempted to draw off the be- 
sieging force. His plan failed — the tables were 
turned. It was the Burgundians who were fiercely 
attacked and who lost the day. Hagenbach 
was forced to surrender, obtaining honourable 
terms, however, and Sigismund put a garrison into 
Hericourt on November i6th. 

1 Toutey, p. 182. 



398 Charles the Bold 

This was a tremendous surprise to Charles. 
That cowherds could repulse his well-trained 
troops was a thought as bitter as it was unex- 
pected. But he put aside all idea of punishing 
them for the moment, and continued to ''reduce 
Neuss to the obedience of the good archbishop," 
and Hermann of Hesse continued to aid the town 
in its determined resistance. 

The opprobrious names applied to the would-be 
and baffled conqueror at this time are curiously 
similar to the epithets hurled at Napoleon a 
few centuries later. He was compared to Anti- 
Christ himself, with demoniac attributes added, 
when Alexander was felt to be too mild a com- 
parison. There was still a terrible fear of the 
duke's ambition, even though, in the face of all 
Europe, the Swiss had repulsed his men, and 
Neuss obstinately refused to open her gates, 
while the world wondered at the duke's obstinacy 
displayed in the wrong place. The belief expressed 
several times by Commines that God troubled 
Charles's understanding out of very pity for 
France, was a current rumour. 

At the end of April an English embassy arrived 
at the camp, which was kept in a marvellous state 
of luxury, even though disease was not successfully 
curbed in the ranks. The urgent entreaty of the 
embassy was that Charles should raise this useless 
siege, fruitless as it promised to be, owing to the 
difficulty of cutting off the town's supplies. 
Edward IV was almost ready to despatch his in- 



The First Reverses 399 

vading army. He implored his dear brother to 
send him transports and to prepare to receive him 
when he landed. A letter from John Paston gives a 
glimpse into the situation ^ : 

** For ffor tydyngs here ther be but ffewe saffe that 
the assege lastyth sty lie by the Duke off Burgoyn 
affoor Nuse, and the Emperor hath besyged also not 
fferr from there a castill and another town in lyke- 
wyse wherin the Duke's men ben. And also, the 
Frenshe Kynge, men seye, is comen right to the water 
off Somme with 4000 spers; and sum men have that 
he woU, at the daye off brekyng off trewse, or else 
beffoor, sette uppon the Duks contreys heer. When 
I heer moor, I shall sende yowe moor tydyngs. 

''The Kyngs imbassators. Sir Thomas Mongomere 
and the Master off the Rolls be comyng homwards 
ffrom Nuse ; and as ffor me, I thynke I sholde be sek 
but iff I see it. . . . 

"For it is so that to morrow I purpose to ryde 
in to Flaundyrs to purveye me off horse and herneys 
and percase I shall see the essege at Nwse er I come 
ageyn." 

There was more reason for Charles to be heart . 
sick at the sight than for John Paston, and he did 
grow weary of the further waiting and anxious, for 
his truce with Louis was drawing to a close. On 
May 2 2d, there was a skirmish between his troops 
and the imperial forces, wherein Charles claimed 
the victory. In reality, there was none on either 
side, but the semblance was sufficient to soothe 

» Paston Letters, iii., 122. 



400 Charles the Bold 

his amour propre, and to convince him that an 
accommodation with Frederic would not detract 
from his dignity. 

A large fleet of Dutch flatboats had been de- 
spatched to help convey the English army, thirst- 
ing for conquest, across the sea. Six thousand 
men in the duke's pay, too, were to be ready to 
meet Edward IV., and swell his escort as he 
marched to Rheims for his coronation. Other 
matters also demanded Charles's personal atten- 
tion. Months had elapsed and Hericourt was un- 
punished — Berne had not been reproved. 

Rene of Lorraine was formally admitted to the 
League of Constance on April i8, 1475, ^^^ ^^^ 
now ready openly to abjure the ''protection" he 
had once accepted from Burgundy. There was a 
touch of old King Rene's theatrical taste in his 
grandson's method of despatching the herald who 
rode up to the duke's gorgeous tent of red velvet 
on May loth. The man was, however, so overcome 
at the first view of le Temeraire that he hastily 
delivered up his letter, and threw down the blood- 
stained gauntlet, which he carried as a gage of 
war, without uttering a word. Then he fell on 
his knees, imploring the duke's pardon. ^ Charles 
was so little displeased at the signs of the impres- 
sion his presence made that, instead of being 
angry with the man, he gave him twelve florins 
for his good news. The terms of the declaration 
of war carried by the herald were as follows: 

i Toutey, p. 244. 



The First Reverses 401 

"To thee, Charles of Burgundy, in behalf of the 
very high, etc., Duke of Lorraine, my seigneur, I an- 
nounce defiance with fire and blood against thee, thy 
countries, thy subjects, thy allies, and other charge 
further have I not." ^ 

The reply was straightforward : 

"Herald, I have heard the exposition of thy charge, 
whereby thou hast given me subject for joy, and, to 
show you how matters are, thou shalt wear my robe 
with this gift, and shalt tell thy master that I will 
find myself briefly in his land, and my greatest fear 
is that I may not find him. In order that thou mayst 
not be afraid to return, I desire my marshal and the 
king-at-arms of the Toison d'Or to convoy thee in 
perfect safety, for I should be sorry if thou didst not 
make thy report to thy master as befits a good and 
loyal officer." 

Thus was Charles pressed from the south and 
lured to the north. Excellent reason for obeying 
the order of the pope's legate that duke and em- 
peror must lay down arms under pain of ex- 
communication did either belligerent refuse ! The 
armistice accepted on May 28th was followed 
by a nine months' truce signed on June 12th. It 
was a truce strictly to the advantage of Frederic 
and Charles. The Rhine cities, Louis XL, Rene 
of Lorraine, were alike ignored and disappointed 
in the expectations they had based on Frederic. 

» Bulletin de I'acad. royale de Belgique, 1887. 



CHAPTER XX 

THE CAMPAIGNS OF I475 

"Monseigneur the chancellor, I do not know what 
to write to you of the English, for thus far they have 
done nothing but dance at St. Omer and we are not 
sure whether the King of England has landed. If he 
has, it must be with so small a force that it makes 
no noise, nor do the prisoners captured at Abbeville 
know anything, nor do they believe that there will be 
any English here in xl days. Tell the news to Monsg. 
de Comminge, and recommend my interests to him 
as I have confidence in him, and in Mons. de Thierry 
and Mons. the vice-admiral." ^ 

Thus wrote Louis XI in June. Two days later 
and he has heard of the truce. He seizes the 
occasion to express to the Privy Council of Berne 
his real opinion of the emperor: "So Frede- 
ric has deserted us all!" 2 Well, it was not 
the first time! Thirty years previous, when 
Louis was dauphin, the emperor had tried 
to turn the Swiss against him. Had not God, 
knowing the hearts of men, inspired the brave 
mountaineers, Louis would have been a victim of 
execrable treachery. The outcome had been won- 

» Lettres de Louis XI. y v., 368. 
2 Nos omnes relinquens, Ibid., 371. 
402 



The Campaigns of 1475 403 

derful, for an eternal friendship had sprung 
up between him and the Swiss which must be 
preserved. 

Meantime, Charles has made his own definite 
plan of the campaign which was to introduce 
Edward into Rheims for the coronation. The 
following letter from him to Edward IV. bears 
no date, but it was evidently written at about the 
time of the truce ^ : 

"Honoured seigneur and brother, I recommend my- 
self to you. I have listened carefully to your declar- 
ation through the pronotary, and understand that 
you do not wish to land without my advice, for which 
I thank you. I understand that some of your coun- 
sellors think you had better land in Guienne, others 
in Normandy, others again at Calais. If you choose 
Guienne you will be far from my assistance but my 
brother of Brittany could help you. Still it would be 
a long time before we could meet before Paris. As to 
Calais, you could not get enough provisions for your 
people nor I for mine. Nor could the two forces make 
juncture without attack, and my brother of Brittany 
would be very far from both. To my mind, your best 
landing is Normandy, either at the mouth of the 
Seine or at La Hogue. I do not doubt that you will 
soon gain possession of cities and places, and you will 
be at the right hand of my brother of Brittany and 
of me. Tell me how many ships you want and where 
you wish me to send them and I will do it." 

On hearing further rumours of the actual arrival 

» Commynes-Dupont, i., 336. 



404 Charles the Bold 

of the English, Louis hastened to Normandy to 
inspect the situation for himself. There he 
learned that his own naval forces stationed in the 
Channel to ward off the invaders had landed on 
the very day before his arrival, abandoning the 
task. 

"When I heard that we took no action, I decided 
that my best plan would be to turn my people loose 
in Picardy and let them lay waste the country whence 
they [the English] expected to get their supplies." * 

At the same time, the rumour that was per- 
mitted to be current in France was, that Charles 
of Burgundy had been utterly defeated at Neuss, 
and that there was nothing whatsoever to appre- 
hend from him. He, meanwhile, was continuing 
his own preparations by strenuous endeavours 
to levy more troops and to obtain fresh supplies. 
After the signing of the convention with the em- 
peror, the duke proceeded to Bruges to meet the 
Estates of Flanders. The answer to his demand 
for subsidies was a respectful refusal to furnish 
funds, on the plea that his expansion policy was 
ruining his lands. Counter reproaches burst 
from Charles. He accused the deputies of leaving 
him in the lurch and thus causing his failure at 
Neuss. Neither money, nor provisions, nor sol- 
diers had they sent him as loyal subjects should. 

"For whom does your prince labour? Is it for 
himself or for you, for your defence? You slumber, 

» Lettres, v., 363. Louis to Dammartin. 



The Campaigns of 1475 405 

he watches. You nestle in warmth, he is cold. You 
are snug in your houses while he is beaten by the wind 
and rain. He fasts, you gorge at your ease. . . . 
Henceforth you shall be nothing more than subjects 
under a sovereign. I am and I will be master, beard- 
ing those who oppose me." ^ 

Then turning to the prelates he continued: 
" Do you obey diligently and without poor excuses 
or your temporal goods shall be confiscated." 
To the nobles: " Obey or you shall lose your heads 
and your fiefs." Finally, he addressed the depu- 
ties of the third estate in a tone full of bitterness : 
" And you, you eaters of good cities, if you do not 
obey my orders literally as my chancellor will 
explain them to you, you shall forfeit privileges, 
property, and life." 

All the fervency of this adjuration failed to 
convince the deputies of their duty, as conceived 
by the orator. They declared that they had levied 
troops and would levy more, for defence, but that 
the four members of Flanders were agreed that 
they would contribute nothing to offensive meas- 
ures. Charles must accept their decision as his 
sainted father had done. The details of all the 
aid they had given him, 2500 men for Neuss and 
many other contributions, were recapitulated. 
Flanders had been generous indeed. The con- 
cluding phrases of their answer were as follows : 

*' As to your last letters, requiring that within fifteen 
^ Gachard, Doc. ined., i., 249. 



4o6 Charles the Bold 

days every man capable of bearing arms report at Ath, 
these were orders impossible of execution, and un- 
profitable for you yourself. Your subjects are 
merchants, artisans, labourers, unfitted for arms. 
Strangers would quit the land. Commerce, in which 
your noble ancestors have for four hundred years 
maintained the land, commerce, most redoubtable 
seigneur, is irreconcilable with war.** 

This answer gave the true key to the situation. 
The Estates of Flanders were determined to be 
bled no further for schemes in which they did not 
sympathise. When this memorial was presented 
to Charles he broke out into fresh invective about 
the base ingratitude of the Flemish: "Take back 
your paper," were his last words. *'Make your 
own answer. Talk as you wish, but do your duty. ' * 
This was on July 12th. Charles had no further 
time to waste in argument. He was still con- 
vinced that the burghers would, in the end, yield 
to his demands. 

With a small escort Charles left Bruges, and 
reached Calais on July 14th, where he had been 
preceded by the duchess, eager to greet her brother, 
who had actually landed on July 4th, with the 
best equipped army — about twenty-four thousand 
men — ^that had ever left the shores of England, 
and the latest inventions in besieging engines. 

The expedition proved a wretched failure — a 
miserable disappointment to the English at home, 
who had been lavish in their contributions. 
Charles seems to have been put out by the place 




KING RUHMREICH AND HIS DAUGHTER EHRENREICH 

CHARACTERS REPRESENTING CHARLES AND MARY OF BURGUNDY 

IN WOODCUT IN EARLY EDITION OF TEMDANK. POEM BY MAXIMILIAN I. 



The Campaigns of 1475 407 

of landing. His own plan is clear from the letter 
quoted. He wished the two armies of Edward 
and himself to sweep a large stretch of territory 
as they marched toward each other. The one 
thing that he objected to was a consolidation of the 
two forces. Incapacity to turn an unexpected or 
an unwelcome situation to account was one of the 
duke's most deeply ingrained characteristics. He 
showed no inventiveness or resourcefulness. He 
held his own army at a distance from the English, 
much to the invader's chagrin, who was forced to 
march unaided over regions rendered inhospitable 
by Louis's stern orders, and outside of cities ready 
to hold him at bay. " If you do not put yourself 
in a state of security, it will be necessary to destroy 
the city, to our regret," was the king's message to 
Rheims, and the most skilful of French engineers 
was fully prepared to make good the words. 

Open hostilities were avoided. Edward camped 
on the field of Agincourt, where perhaps he 
dreamed of his ancestor's success, but no fresh 
blaze of old English glory illumined his path. He 
did not proceed to Paris, there was no coronation 
at Rheims, no comfortable reception within any 
gates at all, for Charles was as chary as Louis him- 
self of giving the English a foothold, though he 
advised Edward to accept an invitation from St. 
Pol to visit St. Quentin. This, however, proved 
another disappointment. Just as Edward was 
ready to enter, the gates opened to let out a 
troop which effectually repulsed the advancing 



4o8 Charles the Bold 

foreigners. The Count of St. Pol had changed his 
mind. 

"It is a miserable existence this of ours when 
we take toil and trouble enough to shorten our 
life, writing and saying things exactly opposite 
to our thoughts," writes the keenest observer 
of this elaborate network of pompous falsehoods ^ 
wherein every action was entangled. Louis XI 
trusted no one but himself, while he played with 
the trust of all, and his game was the safest. His 
fear of the invaders was soon allayed. "These 
English are of different metal from those whom 
you used to know. They keep close, they attempt 
nothing," he wrote to the veteran Dammartin. 

It was, indeed, a patent fact that Edward was 
not a foe to be feared. Baffled and discouraged, he 
readily opened his ears to his French brother, 
and Louis heaped grateful recognition on every 
Englishman who helped incline his sovereign 
to peaceful negotiations. Velvet and coin did 
their work. Edward was easily led into the path 
of least resistance, and an interview between 
the rival kings was appointed for August 29th. 
Great preparations were made for their meeting 
on a bridge at Picquigny, across which a grating 
was erected. Like Py ramus and Thisbe, the two 
princes kissed each other through the barriers, 
and exchanged assurances of friendship. Ed- 
ward was, indeed, so easy to convince that Louis 
was in absolute terror lest his English brother 

1 Commines, iv., ch. vi. 



The Campaigns of 1475 409 

would accept his invitation to show him Paris 
before his return. No wonder Edward was de- 
ceived, for Louis was cjefinite in his hospitable 
offers, suggesting that he would provide a con- 
fessor willing to give absolution for pleasant sins. 

The duke was duly forewarned of this colloquy. 
On August 1 8th, he was staying at Peronne, 
whence he paid a visit to the English camp. It 
was ended without any intimation of Edward's 
change of heart towards the French king whom 
he had come to depose, though his plan was then 
ripe. On the 20th, Charles received a written 
communication with the news which Edward 
had disliked broaching orally, and was officially 
informed that the king had yielded to the wishes 
of his army, and was considering a treaty with 
Louis XL, wherein Edward's dear brother of 
Burgundy should receive honourable mention did 
he desire it. 

On hearing these most unwelcome tidings, 
Charles set off for the English camp in hot haste, 
attended by a small escort, and nursing his wrath 
as he rode.i King Edward was rather alarmed 
at the duke's aspect when the latter appeared, 
and asked whether he would not like a private 
interview. Charles disregarded his question. '' Is 
it true? Have you made peace?" he demanded. 
Edward's attempt at smooth explanations was 
blocked by a flood of invectives poured out 
by Charles, who remembered himself sufficiently 

I Commines, iv., ch. viii.: Comines-Lenglet, ii., 217. 



4IO Charles the Bold 

to speak in English so that the bystanders might 
have the full benefit of his passionate reproaches. 
He spared nothing, comparing the lazy, sensual, 
pleasure-loving monarch, whose easeful ways were 
rapidly increasing his weight of flesh, with the 
heroism of other English Edwards with whom 
he was proud to claim kin. As to the offers to 
remember his interests in the perfidious peace 
that perfidious Albion was about to swear with 
equally perfidious France, his rejection was scorn- 
ful indeed. "Negotiate for me! Arbitrate for 
me! Is it I who wanted the French crown? 
Leave me to make my own truce. I will wait 
until you have been three months over sea.'* 
Among those who witnessed the scene were several 
Englishmen who sympathised with Charles — if 
we may believe Commines. "The Duke of Bur- 
gundy has said the truth," declared the Duke of 
Gloucester, and many agreed with him." Hav- 
ing given vent to his sentiments, Charles 
hurried away from his disappointing ally and 
reached Namur on the 2 2d, where he spent the 
night. 

Edward troubled himself little about his brother- 
in-law's summary of his character. He was tired 
of camp hardships, and both he and his men 
found it very refreshing to have Amiens open her 
gates to them at the order of Louis XL Food and 
wine were lavished upon all alike. It was a de- 
lightful experience for the English soldiers to see 
tables groaning with good things spread in the 



The Campaigns of 1475 411 

very streets, and to be bidden to order what they 
would at the taverns with no consideration for the 
reckoning. They enjoyed good French fare, free 
of charge, until their host intimated to King Ed- 
ward that his men were very intoxicated and that 
there were limits in all things. But Louis did not 
spare his money or his pains until he was sure that 
a bloodless victory had been won. He fully real- 
ised the importance of extravagant expenditure 
in order to reach the goal he had set himself. 

**We must have the whole sum at Amiens before 
Friday evening, besides what will be wanted for pri- 
vate gratifications to my Lord Howard, and others 
who have had part in the arrangement. ... Do 
not fail in this that there may be no pretext for a 
rupture of what has been already settled." 

Though they had now no rood of land, the 
English returned richer than they came, and they 
eased their amour propre by calling the sums that 
had changed hands, "tribute money." ^ 

"Ryght reverend and my most tender and kynd 
Moodre, I recommende me to youw. Pleas it yow 
to weete that blessyd be God, this vyage of the kynges 
is fynnysshyd for thys tyme and alle the kynges ost is 
comen to Caleys as on Mondaye last past, that is to 
seye the iiij daye of Septembre, and at thys daye many 

1 The terms of the treaty provided for a seven years' truce, 
with international free trade and mutual assistance in civil 
or foreign wars of either monarch. Louis's complaisance 
went so far that he did not insist on Edward's renouncing 
the title of King of England and France. 



412 Charles the Bold 

of hys host be passyd the see in to Ingland ageyn, and 
in especiall my Lorde off Norfolk, and my bretheryn. 
. . . I also mysselyke somewhat the heyr heer; 
for by my trowte I was in goode heele whan I come 
hyddre and all hooll and to my wetyng I hadde never 
a better stomake in my lyffe and now in viij dayes I 
am crasyd ageyn." ^ 

Thus wrote one Englishman from Calais and 
doubtless many others found the air more whole- 
some at home. 

Charles of Burgundy was now ready to consider 
the affairs of Lorraine. He advised Rene of his 
intentions, in a manifesto which reached him on 
September 5 th. The preamble contained a long 
list of the manifold benefits conferred upon Lor- 
raine by the House of Burgundy. Then Rene was 
admonished to observe in every particular the 
terms of his own treaty with Charles, which he, 
Rene, had signed voluntarily, or the former would 
"make him know the difference between his 
friendship and his enmity." 

This menace was ominous to the poor Duke of 
Lorraine. For on September 13th, his friend 
Louis XL had signed a fresh treaty with Charles 
of Burgundy at Soleure, and Campobasso was 
marching mercenaries in Burgundian pay towards 
the unfortunate duchy. In other words, the 
French king abandoned the young protege whom 
he had spared no pains to alienate from Burgun- 

^The Paston Letters. Sir John Paston to his mother, Sept. 
II, 1475- 



The Campaigns of 1475 413 

dian protection. It was a moment when his one 
interest apparently was to settle accounts with 
the Count of St. Pol, who had been equally treach- 
erous in his dealings with England, Burgundy, and 
France.^ 

Having rested during the summer, the Burgun- 
dian troops were in fine trim when Charles marched 
to Nancy, taking towns on the way, and sat down 
before the capital in the last week of October. 
From his camp he wrote to the Duke of Milan: 

"Very dear brother, I recommend myself to you. 
I have just accepted a truce with the king for nine 
years to come, in the form and manner contained at 
length in the copy of the articles which I have given to 
your ambassador, resident with me. . . . And 
be sure, fratello mio, that nothing would have induced 
me to accept the truce, had you not been comprised 
therein. And, similarly, you must be satisfied 
in all the pacts between the king and myself, just as 
you were comprised in the convention lately made at 
Neuss. 

**For the rest, I have heard from your ambassador 
about the troops that can be furnished me, for which 
I am well content, praying you to continue to serve me 
in accordance with the promises of your ambassador. 
As to the coming of your brother to me [Sforza, Due 
de Bari], I should be very glad. He has no reason now 
for delay as he can travel in Lorraine as safely as in 
Lombardy, as I have said to your ambassador. Pray 
the Lord to give you the desires of your heart. 

iThe story must be omitted here. The constable was 
finally apprehended, tried, and executed at Paris. 



414 Charles the Bold 

"Written in my camp at Nancy the penultimate day 
of October, 1475. 

" Charles." 1 

Some trifling assistance was offered to Rene 
by Strasburg and other foes to Burgundy, but it 
was wholly insufficient to rescue him from his 
difficulties, and he was finally obliged to order the 
capitulation of Nancy on November 19th. The 
magistrates desired to hold out, but were forced 
by the populace to submit, and on November 30, 
1475, Charles of Burgundy marched triumphantly 
through the gate of Craffe into the capital of 
Lorraine where he was received as the sovereign 
duke. 2 

This time Charles acted the role of a merciful 
and diplomatic conqueror. There was no cruelty 
permitted, and every evidence of conciliation was 
shown. The majority of the Lorrainers accepted 
the new order of things without further protest. 
At the end of December, Charles convened the 
Estates of Lorraine in the ducal palace, addressed 
them as his subjects of Burgundy, promised to 
be a good prince, demanded their attachment, 
confided his plans of expansion, and announced his 
intention of making Nancy the capital of his 
states. Again the duke's star rose. This acquisi- 
tion seemed a sign of the reality of his dreams. 
Even before the fall of Nancy, his approaching 

1 Depeches Milanaises, i., 253. The copy only is at Milan 
and there is no seal. 

2 Toutey, p. 380. 



The Campaigns of 1476 415 

success bore frtdt, inasmuch as the emperor 
changed the late convention into a firmer treaty- 
signed on November 17th. Indeed had Charles 
died at that moment, there would have been little 
doubt that his dreamed-of kingdom had been 
simply prevented by a mere accident. 

The detailed story of all that had happened in 
the Swiss Confederation and the Lower Union, 
since their formal declaration of war against 
Charles, is too complicated to relate. At the begin- 
ing of 1476, the situation was, briefly, that Sigis- 
mund held the debated mortgaged lands, while 
the Swiss allies, with Berne as the most militant 
member of the league, had continued to carry 
on offensive operations against the duke and his 
allies, notably the Duchess of Savoy. The con- 
quest of Lorraine caused a panic, especially in the 
face of the fresh agreements between the duke and 
the emperor and the king. 

There was a short period of hesitation, marked 
by a truce till January i, 1476, between Charles 
and the confederates, a period when the timid 
among the allies urged their counsel of reconcilia- 
tion at all hazards. Charles, too, seems to have 
desired an accord rather than hostilities, even 
though he still bore the Swiss a bitter grudge for 
H6ricourt. It was probably appeals from Yolande 
of Savoy that decided him to open a campaign in 
midwinter. 

"The prince has been so busy for a week past [wrote 



4i6 Charles the Bold 

the Milanese ambassador] in the reorganisation of his 
army according to new ordinances, and in the regula- 
tion of his receipts and outlays that he has scarcely 
given himself time to eat once in twenty-four hours. 
He is importuned by the Duchess of Savoy and the 
Count of Romont for aid against the Swiss who respect 
no treaty, and do not cease increasing their forces. 
In consequence, Duke Charles intends leaving Nancy 
in six days to go towards the Jura. He expects to 
take with him 2300 lances and 10,000 ordnance, which, 
joined to the feudal militia of Burgundy and Savoy, 
will swell his army to the number of 25,000 com- 
batants. His operations are so planned that he will 
have more to gain than to lose." ^ 

When Charles left Nancy on January nth, he 
issued one of his grandiloquent manifestoes declar- 
ing that he was acting in behalf of all princes and 
seigneurs who had suffered wrong at the hands of 
the Swiss, and that he was ready to punish all who 
had provoked his just wrath by ravaging his 
province of Burgundy. It was rather a curious 
act on his part, to let his chief mercenary captain 
go off to make a pilgrimage just as he was on the 
eve of a campaign, but so he did, granting Campo- 
basso leave of absence to visit the shrine of St. 
James at Compostella, a leave possibly utilised 
by the Italian to further the understanding with 
Louis XI., at which he arrived later. 

On across the Jura marched the Burgundian 
army, while the Swiss diet came to a slow and 

» Dep. Milan., i., 266. 



The Campaigns of 1476 4^7 

confused decision to prepare to meet him. He 
did not take the route generally expected, directly 
towards Berne, his chief antagonist, but turned 
aside and attacked the little fortress of Granson. 
The castle was not over strong. Efforts to pro- 
vision it by water failed, and, finally, on February 
28th, after a brief siege, the captain of the garrison, 
Hans Wyler, capitulated to the duke's German 
forces, who represented to them that Charles was 
as generous as he was magnificent. 

If the Milan ambassador can be trusted, the sur- 
render was unconditional. Charles was soon on 
the spot. The four hundred and twelve soldiers, 
who had succeeded in holding the Burgundian 
army at bay for ten whole days, were made to 
march past his tent with bowed heads. Then he 
ordered one and all to be hanged, reserving two 
to help in the executions. Four hours were occu- 
pied in fulfilling these pitiless orders. Panigarola 
arrived at the camp on the 29th, — it was leap 
year, 1476, — and found this accomplished and saw 
the bodies hanging on the trees, but he asserts that 
no word was broken. 1 Charles was now absolutely 
confident of complete success. ''Bellorum eventus 
duhii sunt,'' remarked the prudent Milanese, 
however, and he was proved right. 

When the allied forces of the mountaineers 
finally arrived in the duke's neighbourhood a hot 
pitched battle ensued. The Burgundians, led by 
the duke in person, were thrown into utter con- 

1 Dep. Milan., i., 300. 
27 



4i8 Charles the Bold 

fusion. The mercenaries, terrified by the uncouth 
yells and battle-cries of Uri and Unterwalden, 
simply lost their heads and did nothing. Charles 
was pushed on as far as Jougne. It was not only 
a defeat, but a complete rout. When the Swiss 
came in sight of the late garrison hanged to the 
trees, their rage knew no bounds. In their turn 
they massacred, hanged, and drowned every 
one in Burgundian pay whom they could lay 
hands upon. The Burgundians saved their lives 
when they could, but their valuable artillery and 
their baggage, the mass of riches that Charles 
carried with him were ruthlessly sacrificed, and 
gathered up contemptuously as booty by the Swiss, 
who cared little for the tapestries and jewels 
though they prized the gold. Such was the battle 
of Granson, on the 2nd of March. 

The fatal mistake committed by Charles was 
that he despised his enemy and underestimated 
his quality as well as his strength. Just before 
engaging in battle, the whole Swiss army fell 
upon their knees in prayer that the issue might be 
successful. This action deceived Charles into 
thinking that they were cowardly and his opinion 
was shared by his men. A contemptuous laugh 
broke out from the Burgundian ranks. ^ 



» Jomini lays the defeat to a tactical error. "Charles had 
committed the fault of encamping with one wing of his army- 
resting on the lake, the other ill- secured at the foot of a wooded 
mountain. Nothing is more dangerous for an army than to 
have one of its wings resting on an unbridged stream, on a 



The Campaigns of 1476 419 

Olivier de la Marche ends a meagre account of 
Granson with the following rather barren words ^ : 

"In short the Duke of Bui^undy lost the day and 
was pushed back as far as Jougne, where he stopped, 
and it is meet that I tell how the duke's bodyguard 
saved themselves . . . and reached Salins where I 
saw them arrive for I was not present at the battle 
on account of a malady I suffered. From Jougne the 
duke went to Noseret, and you can understand that 
he was very sad and melancholy at having lost the 
battle, where his rich baggage was stolen and his 
army shattered." 

On March 21, 1476, Sir John Paston writes to 
Margaret Paston from Calais: 

* * As ffor tydyngs heer we her ffrom alle the worlde. 
. . . Item, the Duke of Burgoyne hath conqueryd 
Lorreyn and Queen Margreet shall nott nowe be lykely- 
hod have it ; wherffer the Frenshe kynge cheryssheth 
hyr butt easelye; but afftr thys conquest off Loreyn 
the Duke toke grete corage to goo upon the londe off 
the Swechys [Swiss] to conquer them butt the herded 
hym att an onsett place and hathe dystrussyd hym 
and hathe slayne the most part of his vanwarde and 
wonne all hys ordynnaunce and artylrye and mor ovyr 
all stuffe thatt he hade in hys ost with hym ; exceppte 
men and horse ffiedde nott but they roode that 
nyght XX myle; and so the ryche saletts, heulmetts 
garters, nowchys^ gelt and all is goone with tente 
pavylons and all and soo men deme hys pryde is 

lake, or on the sea." Charles explained to Europe that he had 
been surprised, and his defeat was a mere bagatelle. 

1 1 1 1 ., 2 1 6. 2 Embossed ornaments . 



420 Charles the Bold 

abatyd. Men tolde hym that they were ffrowarde 
karlys butte he wolde nott beleve it and yitt men 
seye that he woll to them ageyn. Gode spede them 
bothe." 

Many of the rumours that were current repre- 
sented Charles as completely prostrated by his 
disaster. This was only half true. His efforts 
to retrieve himself were immediate but, physically, 
he certainly showed the effects of this campaign. 
He was attacked by a low fever, his stomach 
rejected food, insomnia afHicted his nights, and 
dropsical swellings appeared on his legs. This con- 
dition was attributed to his fatigues and exposure 
in a hard climate, and to his habit of drinking 
warm barley-water in the morning. He was 
urged to use a soft feather-bed instead of his hard 
couch, while Yolande's own physician and one 
Angelo Catto watched anxiously over him. The 
latter claimed the credit of saving his life. Charles 
was not, however, fully recovered when he re- 
sumed his activities and held a review on May 9th. 
With all his efforts exerted in every quarter likely 
to yield results, the whole number of troops was 
but twenty thousand men. Every onlooker felt 
that the duke was now trying to accomplish 
something quite beyond his resources. 

"Illustrious prince [wrote the King of Hungary i], 
we cannot sufficiently wonder that you should have 
been so gravely deceived and that, after having once 

i Dip. Milan., iu, 126. 



The Campaigns of 1476 421 

found that you were lured into loss and disgrace, 
again you let yourself be snared in a labyrinth 
from which you will either never escape, or escape 
only with damage and shame. . . . Without risk to 
himself [your foe] has precipitated you into an abyss 
and tied you where you are exposed to the loss of your 
possessions and your life. . . . We exhort you to 
pause before incurring heavier losses and greater 
dangers. If fortune smiles upon you in your attack 
on that people, you will have the whole empire against 
you. In the opposite event — which God avert — it 
will be turned into a common tale how a mighty 
prince was overcome by rustics whom there would 
have been no honour in conquering, while to be 
conquered by them would be an eternal disgrace." 

This plain-spoken epistle failed to reach its des- 
tination until after the prophecy had been fulfilled. 
Its warning would probably have been futile had 
Charles read it before he marched on towards 
Berne, on June 8th. On the road that he chose 
lay the town of Morat, which had made ready for 
his approach. A few days to reduce it, and then 
on to Berne was his plan. His force succeeded 
in holding the ground and cutting off communica- 
tion with Berne for three days. On the 14th, a 
messenger made his way through from the be- 
leaguered city to Berne, and all the allies were 
then urged to do their best. The result was en- 
couraging. "There are three times as many as at 
Granson, but let no one be dismayed, with God's 
help we will kill them all," wrote a leader of Berne. 

The encounter came on June 23d. The force 



422 Charles the Bold 

was really a formidable one. Ren6 of Lorraine 
was among the commanders on the side of the 
Swiss. It was a tremendous fight, brief as it was 
savage ; at two o'clock the assault was made and 
within an hour Charles was repulsed. Almost 
all the infantry perished. The slain is estimated 
variously from ten to twenty-two thousand. 
Charles did not keep his vow to perish if defeated. 
To his assured allies he clung closely, and none 
had more reason to be faithful to him than Yolande 
of Savoy. After Granson he hastened to give 
the duchess his own view of the disaster: 

"It has given me a singular pleasure to hear of 
your calmness and constancy of soul; for the 
thought of your affliction weighed more heavily 
upon me than what has befallen me . . . every day 
diminishes the inconvenience and proves that the loss 
in men is less than we thought. Such as it is it came 
from a mere skirmish. The bulk of the armies did 
not engage, to my great displeasure. Had they 
fought the victory would have been mine. There 
has been none on either side. God, I trust, reserves 
it for you and for me . . . the hope you have placed 
in me shall not be vain." 

Thus he wrote on March 7 th to encourage his anx- 
ious protegee. 

After the second defeat it was to her that the 
duke turned again. In the very early morning 
after the battle of Morat, Charles paused at Morges 
on the Lake of Geneva, having ridden hard 

Wep. Milan., ii., 335. 




, 'Hill' 1 1 'I'll, ji 
''lulrn. 'Hill 






\ \ 

w I 



y^ 






The Campaigns of 1476 423 

through the night. There he heard mass, break- 
fasted, rested awhile, and then rode on, reaching 
the castle of Gex at six o'clock in the evening, 
where Yolande of Savoy was awaiting his coming 
in full knowledge of the second disaster he had 
suffered. 

At the foot of the staircase, attended by her 
ladies, Yolande was waiting to greet her disap- 
pointed friend. Charles dismounted and kissed each 
member of the family in order of precedence, the 
little duke, his brother, then the duchess, her daugh- 
ter, and the ladies in waiting. Yolande had had time 
to move out of her own suite of apartments and 
have them prepared for her guest's use, and there 
the two talked together confidentially, while their 
attendants waited patiently just out of earshot. 

Then Charles formally escorted his hostess to 
her son's room, returning to his own, showing 
signs of extreme fatigue. Panigarola was absent, 
but another Milanese was among her suite, and 
he pressed forward as the duke re-entered the 
apartment, offering to carry any message to the 
Duke of Milan, to be cut short with, " It is well. 
That is enough." Shortly afterwards, Olivier de 
la Marche and the Sire de Givry, commander of 
the Burgundians dedicated to Yolande's service, 
were summoned and had a long conference with 
Charles. 

Yolande was, apparently, more communicative 
to the Milanese Appiano than to Charles, but he 
saw that she was not frank with him. "She 



424 Charles the Bold 

must throw herself on the protection of France 
or of Milan," he wrote to his master.^ She was, 
however, clear in her own mind that she would 
not accept Sforza's protection any more than 
that of Charles. She absolutely refused to 
identify her fortunes with the latter. She was 
determined to go to Geneva, but no farther. 
The duke remained at Gex until the 27th, and 
renewed his arguments to persuade her to cross 
the Jura with him. She was firm in adhering 
to her own plan. The two parties set out from 
the castle together, ' their roads lying in op- 
posite directions, but Charles escorted his hostess 
about half-way to Geneva, riding beside her car- 
riage, and continuing his persuasions in a low 
voice. At last he drew up his rein, gave her a 
farewell kiss, and rode off. He was much dis- 
pleased at her determination, and he speedily 
resolved upon other methods of making sure of her 
fidelity to him. La Marche thus relates the story '? 

"After the duke had been discomfited the second 
time by the Swiss before Morat, believing that he 
could do the thing secretly, he made a plan to kidnap 
Mme. of Savoy and her children and take them 
to Burgundy, and he ordered me, I being at Geneva, 
on my head to capture Mme. of Savoy and her children 
and bring them to him. In order to obey my prince 
and master I did his behest quite against my heart, and 
I took madame and her children near the gate of 
Geneva. But the Duke of Savoy was stolen away 

^Dep. Milan., ii., 295. 
nil., 234' 



The Campaigns of 1476 425 

from me (for it was two o'clock in the night) by the 
means of some of our own company who were subjects 
of the Duke of Savoy, and, assuredly, they did no more 
than their duty. What I did was simply to save my 
life, for the duke, my master, was the kind that insist- 
ed on having his will done under penalty of losing 
one's head. So I took my way, and carried Mme. of 
Savoy behind me, and her two daughters followed and 
two or three of her maids, and we took the road over 
the mountain to reach St. Claude. I was well assured 
of the second son, and had him carried by a gentle- 
man. I thought I was assured of the Duke of Savoy, 
but he was stolen from me as I said. As soon as we 
were at a distance, the people of the duchess, and es- 
pecially the seigneur de Manton, had torches brought 
and took the duke back to Geneva, in which they had 
great joy. And I with Mme. of Savoy and the little 
boy (who was not the duke) , crossed the mountain in 
the black night and came to a place called Mijoux, and 
thence to St. Claude. 

** You must know that the duke gave very bad cheer 
to the company, and chiefly to me. I was in danger 
of my life because I had not brought the Duke of Savoy. 
Then the duke went on to Salins without speaking to 
me or giving me any orders. However, I escorted 
Mme. of Savoy after him, and he ordered me to take 
her to the castle of Rochefort. Thence she was taken 
to Rouvre in Burgundy. After that I had nothing 
more to do with her or her affairs." 

This queer story is undoubtedly true, and the 
tone in which La Marche relates it indicates that 
he, too, was alienated by the duke's manner, and 
might have been more willing to lend an ear to 



426 Charles the Bold 

Louis's suggestions than he had been five years 
previously. 

It is not evident that he played his master false 
or that he was cognisant of the recapture of the 
little duke, but he says himself that he thought 
the attendants were absolutely justified in it. 

It is after this incident that the astute Pani- 
garola returns and joins the duke's suite atSalins. 
He finds Charles a changed man, indulging in 
strange fits of hilarity, expressing the wish that a 
couple of thousand more of his troops had been 
killed, ''French at heart" as they were. He 
refused to see Yolande, after thus forcibly obtain- 
ing the means of so doing, and sent her to the castle 
of the Sire of Rochefort for safe-keeping. Ab- 
stemious as he had been all his life, never taking 
wine without water, the strong Burgundy in which 
he now suddenly indulged went to his head. 

Rumours went abroad that his mental balance 
was shaken. That does not seem to have been 
true to the extent of insanity. He was only in- 
finitely chagrined but he certainly put on a brave 
front and retained his self-confidence and declared 

"They are wrong if they believe me defeated. 
Providence has provided me with so many people 
and estates with such abundant resources, that 
many such defeats would be needed to ruin them. 
At the moment when the world imagines that I am 
annihilated, I will reopen the campaign with an army 
of 150,000 men." ^ 

^Dep. Milan, ii., 339, 



CHAPTER XXI 

THE BATTLE OF NANCY 
1477 

IT was manifestly impossible for Charles to 
attempt to retrieve his fortunes without 
having large sums of ready money at his com- 
mand. He therefore proceeded to appeal to the 
guardians of each and every treasury in his various 
states. Flanders and Burgundy were, however, 
the only quarters whence succour was in the least 
probable. The Estates of the latter duchy met, 
deliberated, and resolved to make no pretence nor 
to "yield anything contrary to the duty which 
every one owes to his country."^ A certain Sieur 
de Jarville, accompanied by other true Burgundi- 
ans, undertook to report the proceedings to 
Charles, — a duty usually falling to the share of the 
presiding officer of the ecclesiastical chamber. 
The message which he carried was laconic but 
sturdy : 

"Tell Monsieur that we are humble and brave 
subjects and servitors, but as to what is asked in 
his behalf, it never has been done, it cannot be 
done, it never will be done." 

"Small people would never dare use such lan- 

1 Mem. de la soc. bourg. de geog. et d' hist. Article by A. 
Cornereau, vi., 229. 

427 



428 Charles the Bold 

guage," is the comment of the Burgundian chroni- 
cler, proud of the temerity of his fellow countrymen. 
In the Netherlands, the individual Estates were 
equally emphatic in their refusal to meet the 
duke's wishes. Charles, therefore, resolved to call 
together a general assembly of deputies in the hope 
of finding them, collectively, more amenable. 
Writs of summons were issued very widely and 
a "States-general" was formally convened at 
Ghent on Friday, April 26, 1476.1 At the last 
assembly of this nature, in 1473, the duke had ex- 
pressly promised, in consideration of an annual 
grant of 500,000 crowns for six years then accorded 
to him, to refrain from further demands, and there 
was a spirit of sullen resentment in the air when 
this session, whose purpose was plain, was opened 
by Chancellor Hugonet. He set forth three points 
for consideration. Monseigneur wished his daugh- 
ter Mary, "that most precious jewel," to join him 
in Burgundy. A suitable escort was necessary to 
ensure her safe journey and that the duke re- 
quested the States to provide. Secondly he de- 

1 Les ^tats de Gand en 1476. (Gachard, Etudes et notices 
hist, des Pays-Bas, i., i. ) 

This is a study of the report made by Gort Roelants, pen- 
sionary of Brussels, one of the deputies to the assembly of 
1476. This so-called "States-general" was by no means a 
legislative assembly. When Philip the Good convened^deputies 
from the various states at Bruges in 1463, it was to save 
himself the trouble of going to the separate capitals to ask 
for aides. Assemblies of similar nature occurred several times 
before 1477, when Mary of Burgundy granted the privilege of 
self-convention and when a constitutional role was assured 



The Battle of Nancy 429 

sired the States to endorse a levy of fresh troops to 
meet his immediate requirements. Further, he 
requested each town to equip a specified number 
of horse at its own expense; he demanded the 
service of his tenants, fief and arriere-fief ; and, in 
addition, he required that all other men, no mat- 
ter what their condition, able to bear arms, should 
enlist or provide a substitute. A portion of the 
troops should be set to guard the frontier, and 
the rest should be sent to the duke in Bur- 
gundy. 

It was a demand pure and simple for a universal 
call to arms, a national levy. The duke's paternal 
desire to see his daughter was the flimsiest of ex- 
cuses that deceived no one for a moment. 

After the chancellor's exposition there was 
probably adjournment for discussion. The pen- 
sionary of Brussels, Gort Roelants, then acted as 
spokesman to present the following report, as the 
result of their deliberations, to the duchess-regent. 

As for Mile, of Burgundy, the deputies would 
ascertain the wishes of their principals, but the 
second request did not call for a referendum. 
The representatives were fully capable of settling 
the matter at once. Considering the heavy bur- 
dens laid on the people, and taking into account the 
promises made to them in 1473, ^^S-t no further 
demands should be made on the public purse, the 
three Estates concurred in humbly petitioning 

to the body ; though not used for many years ( See Pir- 
enne, ii., 379.) 



430 Charles the Bold 

Monseigneur to excuse them from granting his 
request. 

It was on a Sunday after dinner (April 28th) 
when this decision was communicated to the 
duchess in her own hotel. After a private col- 
loquy between her and Hugonet, the chancellor 
told the messenger that it was quite right for the 
deputies to consult their principals before the 
heiress was permitted to leave the guardianship 
of her faithful subjects. That was a grave matter, 
but surely there was no reason why her "escort'* 
could not be determined upon at once. In re- 
gard to the levies, Madame was not empowered to 
take any excuse. It was beyond her province. 
Since the opening of the assembly, fresh letters 
had arrived from the duke urging the speedy exe- 
cution of his previous instructions. The chancellor 
then appointed a committee to meet a committee 
from the States at 8 a.m. on the morrow at the 
convent of the Augustines. 

This was not satisfactory. Hugonet was speed- 
ily notified that the States did not feel em- 
powered to appoint a committee. The most they 
could do was to resolve themselves into a com- 
mittee of the whole. The objection to this was 
that a small conference was far better suited to 
free discussion. It was easy for unqualified per- 
sons to enter the session of a large body. The 
States, however, were tenacious in their opinion 
that their writs did not qualify them to appoint 
committees. Every point must be threshed out 




PHILIBERT, DUKE OF SAVOY 
(after the design by mathey) 



I 



The Battle of Nancy 431 

in the presence of every deputy. Potestas delegata 
non deleganda est. 

There was further negotiation, and it was not 
until Monday afternoon that Hugonet's com- 
missioner brought a conciliatory message that if 
the gentlemen were so bent on it, he would, in 
spite of the difficulty of discussion in an open 
meeting, talk over both points with them in full 
assembly. Again the States objected. They had 
no instructions whatsoever in regard to Mademoi- 
selle, and could not discuss her movements either 
in public or in private session. As to levies, they 
repeated in detail all previous arguments, and ex- 
pressed a fervent hope that Monseigneur would 
withdraw the request. It would, in the end, be 
more to Monseigneur 's advantage, etc. Back and 
forth travelled the commissioner between States 
and duchess. The latter simply reiterated her 
dictum that Mary must certainly set forth to visit 
her father in May, with an adequate escort, in 
whose ranks must appear three prelates, three or 
four barons, fifty knights, and notable men from 
the "good towns,*' well armed. 

The States were then resolved into a committee 
of the whole, for a private deliberation, an action 
that probably enabled them to exclude the em- 
barrassing spectators. In preparation for this, 
the diligent commissioner called apart one deputy 
from each contingent, and expatiated on the 
duke's need of proof of sturdy loyalty. Seven to 
eight thousand combatants, besides Mademoiselle's 



432 Charles the Bold 

escort and the fiefs and arri^re-fiefs, Monseigneur 
could manage to make suffice for the present, and 
these must be provided. These confidences were 
at once reported to the assembly, which then ad- 
journed to think over the matter during the 
night. ^ 

When they met again on April 30th, the chan- 
cellor was ready with a new message from Madame : 
" Go home now, consult your principals, and re- 
turn on May 1 5th." On the motion of some deputy, 
this date was changed to May 24th. Precautions 
were taken to prevent any binding action in the 
interim. Moreover, the exact phrasing of the 
reports to the separate groups of constituents was 
also agreed upon by the majority of the deputies. 
In this, Hainaut refused to participate, as in that 
province there was a reluctance to deny the 
obligations of the fiefs. 

When the deputies reassembled a month later, 
Hugonet tried to weaken the effect of their answer 
by a suggestion that it had better not be con- 
sidered the final decision, but a mere informal 
expression of opinion. "There were so many 
strangers present," etc. The States determinedly 
refused to be trifled with. *' Madame must not be 
displeased if they gave the result of their delibera- 
tions in the presence of the whole assembly, not 
by way of opinion, but as a formal and conclusive 
report." Their charge was restricted to this man- 
ner of procedure. The chancellor, interrupting 

» Pour y -penser la nuit jusques au lendemain. 



^^^\\BOUXIERES. 



SV4ISS. 
QURGUNDTANS, 







flEPRODUCED FROM KIRK'S 



PLAN OF BATTLE OF NANCY 
'CHARLES THE BOLD," BY PERMISSION OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT CO. 



The Battle of Nancy 433 

them, asked, since their charge was thus restricted, 
whether they had also been hmited in the number 
of times they might drink on their way.^ The 
answer was: "Chancellor, come now, say what 
you wish. The answer shall be given as it was 
meant to be given." 

The communication was so long that its delivery 
took from 3 to 8 p.m. It was nothing more than 
a detailed apology for refusing the sovereign's 
demands. Several days more were consumed in 
unsuccessful efforts to cajole or browbeat the 
deputies into a more genial mood. The only 
concessions offered were insignificant, and to their 
resolution the deputies held firmly. ''According 
to current rumour [concludes Gort Roelants's 
story] the ducal council would gladly have ac- 
cepted a notable sum in lieu of the service of 
towns and of the fief holders, but the States made 
no such offer." 

There was evidently a hope that better results 
might be obtained from a new assembly, 2 but 
none was held and the most earnest endeavours 
of the duke's wife and daughter failed to arouse 
enthusiasm for his plans. Moreover, when there 
seemed a prospect that the Netherlands might be 
attacked from France, the sympathy of even the 
duchess and council for offensive operations was 

1 S' Us n'avaient point charge limitee quantefois Us devaient 
hoire en chemin. 

2 Compte-rendu par Antoine Rolin, Sr. d' Aymeries, Oct. i, 
1475-Sept. 30, 1476. In the archives of Hainaut there are 
proofs that another assembly was confidently expected. 

28 



434 Charles the Bold 

chilled. Not only did Margaret fail to send her 
husband the extra supplies demanded, but she 
decided to appropriate the three months' subsidy, 
the chief item of regular ducal revenue, for protec- 
tion of the Flemish frontier — an action that made 
Charles very angry. Defences at home! Yes, 
indeed, they were necessary, but the people must 
provide them. The subsidy was lawfully his and 
he needed every penny of it. His army had not 
been destroyed. He was simply obliged to 
strengthen it. Burgundy was helping him. Flan- 
ders must do her part. They were deaf to this 
appeal, although a generous message was sent 
saying that if he were hard pressed they would 
go in person to rescue him from danger. 

The story of the assembly of the Estates of the 
two Burgundies is equally interesting as a picture 
of the clash between sovereign will and popular 
unreadiness to open the carefully guarded money- 
boxes. ^ The deputies convened at Salins on July 
8th, in the presence of the duke himself. The ses- 
sion was opened by Jean de Grey, the president 
of the parlement of the duchy, with a brief state- 
ment of the sovereign's needs. Then Charles took 
the floor, and delivered a tremendous harangue 
with a marvellous command of language. Pani- 
garola declared that his allusions to parallel 
crises in ancient times were so apt and so fluent 
that it seemed as though the book of history lay 
opened before him and that he read from its 

1 Gingins la Sarra, ii., 354. 




BATTLE OF NANCY 

CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE IN ABBEY OF ST. GERMAIN DES PRES 

(COMINES-LENGLET, III.) 



The Battle of Nancy 435 

pages.* The impression he made was plain to 
see. 

His demands for aid to retrieve the Swiss disas- 
ters were open and aboveboard this time. There 
was no such pretence put forward as the escort 
of Mary. The argument was that any ruler, 
backed by his people unanimous in their willing- 
ness to give their last jewel for public purposes, 
must inevitably succeed in his righteous wars, etc. 

His learned and able discourse was well received, 
according to other reporters besides the Milanese, 
but there was no hearty yielding to sentiment in 
the reply. Four days were consumed in delibera- 
tions before that was ready on July 12th. They 
had certainly considered that the grant of 100,000 
florins annually for six years, accorded two years 
previously, was their share. But in view of the 
duke's appeal, they would endeavour to aid him. 
Let him stipulate which cities he wished fortified 
and they would assume charge of the work. Two 
favours they begged — that Charles should not 
rashly expose his person '' for he was the sole prince 
of his glorious House," and that he should be 
ready to receive overtures of peace. "We will 
give life and property for defence, but we implore 
you to take no offensive step." Charles did not, 
perhaps, feel the distrust of his military skill and 
of his judgment that these words implied. 

Financial stress was not the duke's only difQ- 

1 Ihid.y 359. Scorende queste cose come avesse il libro 
avanti, parse ad ogniuno imprimesse bene questo suo intento. 



43^ Charles the Bold 

culty in 1476. The defection of his allies continued. 
Yolande — ^that former good friend of his — ^was now 
a fervent suppliant to Louis XI., begging him to 
restore her to freedom and to her son's estates. 
Not that her restraint was in itself hard to bear. 
At Rouvre, whither she had been removed from 
Rochefort, she was free to do what she wished, 
except to depart. Couriers, too, were at her serv- 
ice apparently, who carried uninspected letters 
to Milan, Geneva, Nice, Turin, and to Louis XL 
Commines says that she hesitated to take refuge 
with the last lest he should promptly return 
her to Burgundian ''protection." Yet her 

brother's hatred to Charles seemed a fairly strong 
assurance against such action. Louis XL was 
never so genial as when hearing some ill of Charles. 
"From what I have learned, I believe his Turk, 
his devil in this world, the person he loathes most 
intensely, is the Duke of Burgundy, with whom he 
can never live in amity." These words were sent 
by Petrasanta to the Duke of Milan, ^ who was 
also turning slowly, with some periods of hesitation, 
to an alliance with Louis, now engaged in "fol- 
lowing the hare with a cart." 2 

On his side the king declared that he had no 
intention of troubling further about his obliga- 
tions to the Duke of Burgundy. "He has him- 
self broken the truce repeatedly. I can begin a 

1 Petrasanta to the Duke of Milan Aug. 12th. Quoted in 
Kirk, iii., 487, 

2 An Italian phrase signifying to run down his game slowly. 




COLUMN COMMEMORATING CHARLES AT NANCY 
AFTER THE DRAWING BY PERNOT 



The Battle of Nancy 437 

war when I please. But I have thought it best 
to temporise." 

In the succeeding weeks Louis plunged deeper 
and deeper into negotiations with any and every 
one whom he could turn against Charles. In 
October, Sire de Chamont, governor of Champagne, 
— the territory that Edward IV. had failed to 
consign to the duke's sovereignty, — made a de- 
scent on Rouvre and rescued Yolande of Savoy. 
There was no attempt to stay her departure, and 
she was scrupulous, so it is said, in leaving money 
behind to pay for the Burgundian property car- 
ried off in her train — though it were nothing but 
an old crossbow. "Welcome, Madame the Bur- 
gundian, "was the fraternal salutation which she 
received on her arrival at her brother's court. 
She replied that she was a good French woman 
and quite ready to obey his majesty's commands. 2 

During the summer, Charles remained at La 
Riviere exerting every effort to levy an army. It 
was no easy task, and the review held on July 27th 
showed a meagre return for his exertions. But 
he did not slacken his efforts. Lists were imme- 
diately drawn up showing the vacancies in each 
company, and his money stress did not prevent his 
offering increased pay as an extra inducement to 
recruits. "An excellent means of encourage- 
ment," comments Panigarola. 

The necessity for his preparations was evident. 
An opportune legacy inherited by Rene of Lor- 

1 Commines, v., ch. iv. 



43^ Charles the Bold 

raine enabled that dispossessed prince to work 
to better advantage than he had been able to do 
since Charles had convened the Estates of Lor- 
raine at Nancy. Moreover, on the very day of 
the review of the deficient Burgundian troops, a 
Swiss diet at Fribourg adopted resolutions regard- 
ing a closer alliance with Rene. ^ Louis XL os- 
tensibly^ maintained his truce with Charles but 
he had intimated that a French army would wait 
in Dauphine ready "to help adjust the affairs of 
Savoy," and, at about the same time when Yolande 
was at court, he gave a gracious reception to a Swiss 
embassy, so that Rene did not feel himself without 
support as he advanced to recover his city. 

The mercenaries left by Charles at Nancy were 
weak and indifferent — a brief siege, and the cap- 
ital of Lorraine capitulated to Duke Rene. Charles 
was too late to prevent this mortifying loss. His 
forces, too, were a mere shadow. Three to four 
thousand men rallied round him in the Franche- 
Comte, a few hundred joined him in Burgundy, 
and as he skirted the frontier of Champagne he 
received slight reinforcements from Luxemburg. 
Then came Campobasso and his mercenary troops, 
and the Count of Chimay with such Flemish fiefs 
as had, individually, respected the duke's appeal. 
In all, the forces at Charles's disposition amounted 
to about ten thousand, far fewer than those at 
Neuss or at Granson. 

1 Toutey calls the diet at Fribourg a veritable congress of 
central Europe, the first of international congresses. 



The Battle of Nancy 439 

At a diet of October 17th, the compact between 
Rene and the Swiss was confirmed, and the former 
was assured of efficient aid to help him repulse 
Charles in his advance into Lorraine. There was 
need. The city of Toul refused admission to both 
dukes, but furnished provision for Charles's troops, 
so that for the moment he was the better off of 
the two. Rene then proceeded to provision 
Nancy and to prepare it for a siege, while he him- 
self proceeded to Pont-a-Mousson, and for several 
days the two adversaries were only separated by 
the Moselle. Charles's army was augmented 
daily by slight accessions from Flanders, and Eng- 
land, and by fragments of the garrisons of the 
various towns in Lorraine that had yielded to 
Rene, and the latter fell back, little by little. 
Charles in his turn held Pont-a-Mousson, and 
proceeded along the road to Nancy, not deterred 
by the Lorrainers. 

It was on October 22nd, that Charles of Bur- 
gundy laid siege for the second time to Nancy. 
In thus entering into active hostilities, he was 
ignoring the advice of his councillors who were 
unanimous in begging him to devote the winter 
months to refitting his army in Luxemburg or 
Flanders. His position was really very dangerous. 
He had no base on which to rest as he had recov- 
ered no towns except Pont-a-Mousson. But he 
ignored the patent obstacles and tried assault 
after assault upon Nancy — all most valiantly 



440 Charles the Bold 

repulsed. Within the walls, there was an amazing 
display of courage, energy, and good humour. As 
a matter of fact, the duke's reputation had waned, 
while the fear of his cruelty emboldened the 
burghers to hold out to the last ditch. Any fate 
would be better than falling into his hands, was 
the general opinion. 

Throughout Lorraine, the captains of the gar- 
risons seized every occasion to harry the Bur- 
gundians. Familiar with the lay of the land, with 
every cross-road and by-path, they were able to 
lie in wait for the foragers and to do much damage. 
Four hundred cavaliers, coming up from Burgundy, 
were attacked by one Malhortie de Roziere, and 
literally cut to pieces, while their horses changed 
sides with ease. Only a few escaped to report the 
fate of the others to Charles. Not long after, Mal- 
hortie, encouraged by this success, crept up to 
the Burgundian camp, fell upon the sleepers, and 
captured a goodly number of horses. 

The troops on which Charles counted most con- 
fidently were Campobasso's. Several attempts 
were made to warn him that treachery was pos- 
sible in that quarter if the commander were too 
much exasperated by delays in payment, too 
much tried by the ill-temper of his employer. 
But the duke persisted in being oblivious to what 
was passing under his eyes. Thus, while awaiting 
the moment for his final defection, the Italian 
found it possible to enter into communication with 
Rene and to retard the operations of the siege so 



The Battle of Nancy 441 

as to give time for the advance of the army of 
rehef. 

The weather of this year was a marked contrast 
to the mild season of 1473. The winter set in 
early and the cold became very severe, almost at 
once. Their sufferings made the burghers very 
impatient for the relief of whose coming they 
could get no certain assurance. The Burgun- 
dian lines were held so rigidly that the interchange 
of messages between the city and her friends was 
rendered very difficult. ^ One Suffren de Baschi 
tried to slip through to Nancy, to tell the besieged 
that Rene was levying troops in Switzerland and 
would soon be with them. Baschi fell into the 
duke's hands and was immediately hanged. One 
story says that Campobasso was among the inter- 
ceders for his life and received a box on the ear for 
his pains, an insult that proved the last straw in 
his allegiance to Charles. Commines, however, 
declares that the Italian urged the death of the 
captive, fearful of the premature betrayal of his 
own intended treachery. 

This execution was one of those arbitrary acts 
condemned by public opinion as contrary to the 
code of warfare. Intense indignation among the 
Lorrainers and the Swiss forced Rene to retalia- 
tory measures, and he ordered the execution of 
all the Burgundian prisoners. One hundred and 
twenty bodies hung on the gibbets, each bearing 
an inscription to the effect that their death was 

1 Hugu^nin Jeune, Hist, de la guerre de Lorraine, p. 217. 



442 Charles the Bold 

the work of le tenter aire. The rancour of the 
proceedings became terrible. No quarter was 
given in any engagements. Slaughter was the 
only thought on either side. 

Towards the end of December, one Thierry, a 
draper of Mirecourt, proved more successful than 
B-aschi in reaching Nancy. His information, that 
Rene's army would leave Basel on December 26th, 
put heart into the beseiged and the bells rang out 
joyfully. 

Just at this epoch, there was an attempt at 
mediation between the combatants. The King of 
Portugal,^ nephew of Isabella, appeared at his 
cousin's camp and implored him to put an end to 
the carnage, and in the name of humanity to stop 
a war that was horrible to all the world. In spite 
of his own stress, Charles managed to give his 
kinsman a splendid reception, but he waved 
aside his petition, and simply invited him to join 
him in his campaign. 

A week sufficed for the Swiss contingent to 
march from Basel to Nancy, across the plains of 
Alsace. Meantime Rene had rallied about four 
thousand men under Lorraine captains, and to 
this was added an Alsatian force which had joined 
him by way of St.-Nicolas-du-Port. They were 

1 This monarch, Alphonse V., called the African, asking 
Louis XI. for assistance against Ferdinand of Castile, was 
refused on the score that Charles the Bold was menacing 
the safety of the French frontier. Alphonse's prayer for 
peace might have been instigated by thoughts of his own 
needs as well as those of humanity. (Toutey, p. 386.) 



The Battle of Nancy 443 

a rude, pitiless crowd, as they soon evinced by 
routing a few Burgundians out of the houses 
where they had hidden, and massacring them 
pubHcly. A reconnaissance, sent out by Charles, 
was easily put to flight. 

On January 4th, Charles learned that fresh 
troops had reached St. -Nicolas. He showed as- 
surance, arrogance, and negligence. His belief 
in his star was fully restored. He actually did 
not take the trouble to try once more to ascertain 
the exact strength of the enemy. He had com- 
missioned the Bishop of Forli to negotiate for him 
at Basel, and refused to credit the statement that 
the Swiss were throwing in their fortunes with 
Rene. He thought that ''the Child," as he con- 
temptuously termed his adversary, had simply 
gone right and left to hire mercenaries, and he 
rather ridiculed the idea of taking such canaille 
seriously, saying that it was a host unworthy of 
a gentleman. Still he resolved to meet and finish 
them once for all.^ 

It is a fact that the Swiss reinforcements were 
a different and far less efficient body than the 
volunteers of Granson and Morat had been. 
French gold, scattered freely, had done its work 
in exciting the cupidity of every man who could 
bear arms. There were some staunch leaders, 
like Waldemar of Zurich and Rudolph de Stein, 
but their kind was in the minority. Berne aided 
with money rather than with men, but she was not 

1 Toutey, p. 387. 



444 Charles the Bold 

a generous ally as she insisted on having hostages 
to ensure her repayment. A venal spirit was 
evident in every quarter. As the troops made 
their way over the Jura their behaviour showed 
that the late splendid booty had affected them. 
Plunder was their aim. When Rene reviewed 
these fresh arrivals from Basel, one of his attending 
officers was Oswald von Thierstein, late governor 
of Alsace. 1 Disgraced by Sigismund he had passed 
over to the Duke of Lorraine, who appointed him 
marshal. 

On that January 4th, a Saturday, Charles held 
a council meeting. The opinion of the wisest, 
already given on previous occasions, was urged 
again : 

"Do not risk battle. Ren6 is poor. If there are 
no immediate engagements, his mercenaries will aban- 
don him for lack of pay. Raise the siege and depart 
for Flanders and Luxemburg. The army can rest and 
be increased. Then at the approach of spring it will 
be easy to fall upon Rene deprived of his troops." 

Charles was absolutely deaf to these arguments. 
He was determined on facing the issue at once. 
Leaving a small force to sustain the siege, he 
ordered the camp to be broken on the evening of 
the 4th and a movement made towards St.-Nico- 
las. He selected a ground favourable for the 
manipulation of a large body, and placed his 

J See Scott's Anne of Geierstein. This is the man whom 
the author makes the appointed instrument of the Vehm- 
gericht to slay Charles. 



The Battle of Nancy 445 

artillery on a plateau situated between Jarville 
and Neuville. It was not a good position, being 
hedged in on the right and in front by woods which 
could conceal the movements of a foe without 
impeding them. Only one way of retreat was 
open — towards Metz, whose bishop was Charles's 
last ally. But to reach Metz, it was necessary to 
cross several small streams and deceptive marshes, 
half frozen as they were, besides the river Meurthe, 
a serious obstacle with the garrison of Nancy on the 
flank. In short, there was ample reason to dread 
surprise, while in case of defeat a terrible catas- 
trophe was more than possible. Curiously, the 
precise kind of difficulties which beset the field of 
Morat were repeated here — proof that Charles had 
not the qualities of a general who could learn by 
experience. ^ 

The exact force at his disposal on this occasion 
has been variously estimated. Considering the 
ravages of the sanguinary skirmishes during the 
siege, and of the cold, it is probable that the actual 
combatants did not number more than ten thou- 
sand, all told. And only half of these were of any 
value — two thousand men under Galeotto, and 
three thousand Burgundians commanded by 
Charles and his immediate Heutenants. The re- 
mainder were unreliable mercenaries and the still 
more unreliable troops of Campobasso already 
pledged to the foe. La Marche estimates Rene's 
force at twelve thousand and adds : " The Duke of 

» Toutey, p. 388. 



446 Charles the Bold 

Burgundy was far behind, for, on my conscience, 
he had not two thousand fighting men." ^ 

The alHes adopted a plan of battle proposed by 
a Lorrainer, Vautrin Wuisse. The first manoeuvre 
was to divert the foe and turn him towards the 
woods, and then to attack his centre, which would 
at the same time be pressed at the front by the 
Lorraine forces, headed by Rene himself. The 
plan succeeded in every point. Surprised that 
they dared take the offensive, Charles was alert 
to the harsh cries of the "bull" of Uri and the 
"cow" of Unterwalden, which were heard across 
the woods. A sudden presentiment saddened 
him. Putting on his helmet, he accidentally 
knocked off the lion bearing the legend Hoc est 
signum Dei. He replaced it and plunged into the 
m^lee. 

The onslaught was terrific. Galeotto's troops 
and the duke's were the only ones to make sturdy 
resistance. The right wing of the army gave way 
under the fierce assault of the Swiss. The cry, 
" Sauve qui peut! " raised possibly by Campobasso's 
traitors, produced a terrible rout. Three quarters 
of the troops were in flight, while the duke still 
fought on with superhuman ferocity. 

Galeotto, seeing that the day was lost, protected 
his own mercenaries as best he could, while Campo- 
basso completed the treason that he had plotted 
with Rene, which had been partially accomplished 
four days previously, and calmly took up his posi- 

» Memoires, iii., 239. 



The Battle of Nancy 447 

tion on the bridge of Bouxieres on the Meurthe, 
to make prisoners for the sake of ransom. Then 
the besieged made a sudden sortie which increased 
the disorder. The battle proper was of short dura- 
tion, with Httle bloodshed, but the pursuit was 
sanguinary in the extreme, because the Burgun- 
dian army had left no loophole open for retreat. 
The Swiss pursued the fugitives hotly as far as 
Bouxieres and inflicted carnage right and left on 
the route. It was easy work. The morasses were 
traps and the Burgundians, encumbered with their 
arms, found it impossible to free themselves, when 
they once were entangled. They fell like flies 
before the fury of the mountaineers. The Lor- 
rainers and Alsatians were more humane or more 
mercenary, for they took prisoners instead of killing 
indiscriminately. Charles fought desperately to 
the very end. There is no doubt that he plunged 
into the thick of the fight and risked his life in a 
reckless manner, but there is absolute uncertainty 
as to how he met his death. It is generally accept- 
ed that the last person to see him alive was one 
Baptista Colonna, a page in the service of a Nea- 
politan captain. This lad, with an extra helmet 
swung over his shoulder, found himself close to 
the duke. He saw him surrounded by troops, 
noticed his horse stumble, was sure that the rider 
fell. The next moment, Colonna's attention was 
diverted to himself. He was taken prisoner and 
knew no more of the day's events. The figure of 
Charles of Burgundy disappears from the view of 



44^ Charles the Bold 

man. A curtain woven of vague rumour hides the 
closing scenes of his life. 

At seven o'clock the victorious Duke of Lorraine 
rode into the rescued city and re-entered his palace. 
At the gates was heaped up a ghastly memorial 
of the steadfastness of the burghers in their de- 
votion to his cause. This was a pile of the bones 
of the foul animals they had consumed when other 
food was exhausted, rather than capitulate to 
their liege's foe. To ascertain the fate of that foe 
now became Rene's chief anxiety, and he de- 
spatched messengers to Metz and elsewhere to 
find out where Charles had taken refuge. The 
reports were all negative. The first positive as- 
surance that the duke was dead came from young 
Baptista Colonna, whom Campobasso himself 
introduced into Rene's presence on Monday 
evening. The page told his tale and declared that 
he could point out the precise place where he had 
seen the Duke of Burgundy fall. Accordingly, on 
Tuesday morning, January 7th, a party went 
forth from Nancy to the desolate battlefield and 
were guided by Colonna to the edge of a pool 
which he asserted confidently was the very spot 
where he had seen Charles. Circumstantial evi- 
dence went to give corroboration to his word, for 
the dozen or more bodies that lay strewn along 
the ground in the immediate vicinity of the pool 
were close friends and followers of the duke, men 
who would, in all probability, have stayed faith- 
fully by their master's person, a volunteer body- 



The Battle of Nancy 449 

guard as long as they drew breath. These bodies 
were all stripped naked. Harpies had already- 
gathered what plunder they could find, and no 
apparel or accoutrements were left to show the 
difference in rank between noble and page. But 
the faces were recognisable and they were identi- 
fied as well-known nobles of the Burgundian court. 
Separated from this group by a little space at the 
very edge of the pool, was another naked body in 
still more doleful plight. The face was disfigured 
beyond all semblance of what it might have been 
in life. One cheek was bitten by wolves, one 
was imbedded in the frozen slime. Yet there was 
evidence on the poor forsaken remains that 
convinced the searchers that this was indeed the 
mortal part of the great duke. Two wounds from 
a pick and a blow above the ear — inflicted by '* one 
named Humbert" — showed how death had been 
caused. The missing teeth corresponded to those 
lost by Charles, there was a scar just where he had 
received his wound at Montl'hery, the finger nails 
were long like his, a wound on the shoulder, a fistula 
on the groin, and an ingrowing nail were ad- 
ditional marks of identification, — six definite 
proofs in all. Among those who gazed at this 
wretched sight, on that January morning, were 
men intimately acquainted with the duke's person. 

"There were his physician, a Portuguese named 
Mathieu, and his valets, besides Olivier de la 
Marche ^ and Denys his chaplain who were taken 

1 It is strange that La Marche does not make more of this 



450 Charles the Bold 

thither and there was no doubt that he was dead. It 
has not yet been decided where he will be buried, and 
to know it better it [the body] has been bathed in 
warm water and good wine and cleansed. In that 
state it was recognisable by all who had previously 
seen and known him. The page who had given the 
information was taken to the king. Had it not been 
for him it would never have been known what had 
become of him considering the state and the place 
where he was found." * 

Before the body could be freed from the ice in 
which it was imbedded, implements had to be 
brought from Nancy. Four Lorraine nobles 
hastened to the spot, when they heard the tidings, 
to show honour to the man who had been their 
accepted lord for a brief period, and they acted as 
escort as the burden was carried into the town and 
placed in a suitable chamber in the home of one 
George Marquiez. There seems to have been no 
insult offered to the fallen man, no lack of deference 
in the proceedings. The very spot where the 
bier rested for a moment was marked with a little 
black cross. 

scene if he were really there. His sole statement is: "The 
duke remained dead on the field of battle, stretched out like 
the poorest man in the world and I was taken and others." 
iii., 240. 

1 La deconfiture de Monseigneur de Bourgogne faite par 
Monseigneur de Lorraine. Comines-Lenglet, iii., 493. 

This brief account was drawn up evidently before the 
duke's burial was known by the v/riter. It may have been 
written solely to please Louis XI. Still there is a simplicity 
about it that holds the attention, in spite of the fact that 
the story is not accepted by critical historians. 



The Battle of Nancy 451 

As the corpse was bathed, three wounds be- 
came evident — a deep cut from a halberd in the 
head, spear thrusts through the thighs and ab- 
domen — proofs of the closeness of the last strug- 
gle. When all the dignity possible had been given 
to the miserable human fragment and the chamber 
hung with conventional mourning, Rene came 
thither clad in black garments. Kneeling by the 
bier, he said: ** Would to God, fair cousin, that 
your misfortunes and mine had not reduced you 
to the condition in which I see you." 

For five days the body lay in state before the 
high altar of the church of St. George, and the 
obsequies that followed were attended by Rene 
and his nobles, and the cof!in was honourably 
placed among the ducal dead. 

Yet doubt of the man's existence was not buried 
with the bones to which his name was given. 
When the Swiss turned their way homeward, 
their farewell words to Rene were: " If the Duke 
of Burgundy has escaped and should reopen war, 
tell us." ''If he has assured his safety," Rene 
answered, ''we will fight again when summer 
comes." There was no delay, however, in the 
division of the spoils. The Burgundian treasure 
was distributed among Rene's allies, and the ig- 
norant soldiers received articles worth many times 
their pay, which they, in many cases, disposed of 
for an infinitesimal part of their value. 

As late as January 28th, Margaret of York and 
Mary of Burgundy wrote to Louis XI. from Ghent: 



452 Charles the Bold 

*' We are still hoping that Monseigneur is alive in 
the hands of his enemies." Other rumours con- 
tinued to be current, not only for weeks but for 
years. In 1482, it was gravely recounted that 
the vanished duke had retired to Brucsal in 
Swabia, where he led an austere life, genus vitae 
horridum atque asperum. Bets were made, too, 
on the chances of his return. * 

Louis XL was a very pleasant person when 
news was brought him that he liked to hear. 
Commines and Bouchage together had told him 
about the defeat of Morat and had each received 
two hundred silver marks. It was a Seigneur de 
Lude who had the good luck to bring him letters 
from Craon recounting the battle of Nancy. It 
was " really difficult for the king to keep his coun- 
tenance so surprised was he with joy. "2 jjis 
letter to Craon was written on January 9th and 
ran as follows. ^ 

" M. the Count, my friend, I have received your letter 
and heard the good news that you impart to me, for 
which I thank you as much as I can. Now is the time 
to use all your five natural senses to deliver the duchy 
and county of Burgundy into my hands. If the 
duke be dead, do you and the governor of Champagne 
take your troops and put yourselves within the land, 
and, if you love me, keep as good order among your 
men as if you were in Paris, and prove that I mean to 

1 La Marche, iii., 240. 

2 Cdmines v., ch. x. 

3 Lettres vi. , p. 1 1 1 . 



After the Battle 453 

treat them [the Burgundians] better than any one in 
my realm." 

The " five natural senses " of the king's lieutenant 
were employed most loyally to his master's serv- 
ice. The duchy of Burgundy returned to the 
French crown. Before Easter, the Estates were 
convened by Louis XI., and there was no longer 
any duke in Burgundy to be an over powerful 
peer in France. 

With the exception of Guelders the lands ac- 
quired by Charles fell away, but the remainder as 
inherited by him passed under the rule of his 
daughter Mary, who carried her heritage into the 
House of Austria, through which it passed finally 
to the King of Spain. 

On that fatal fifth of January, Charles of Bur- 
gundy had only just passed middle life. He was 
forty-four years, one month, and twenty-six days 
old, an age when a man has the right to look for- 
ward to new achievements. Every circumstance 
of the dreary and premature death was in glaring 
contrast to his prospects at his birth in 1433, in 
insolent contradiction to his own estimation of the 
obligations assumed by Fate in his behalf. In 
certain details of the catastrophe there are, of 
course, accidents. No one could have predicted 
that the duke whose chief title was a synonym for 
magnificence, that this cherished heir to his House, 
who had been bathed in all the luxury known to his 
epoch, should have thus lain in death, many hours 



454 Charles the Bold 

long, unattended and uncared-for, naked and 
frozen on a bed of congealed mud, mth a winter 
sky as canopy. The actual adversity as it over- 
whelmed him was too appalling for any foresight. 
But the great dream of the man's life that vanished 
with his vitality owed its annihilation to no mere 
chance of warfare. Had it not been rudely ended 
by the battle of Nancy, other means of destruc- 
tion, inevitable and sure, would have appeared. 
The projected erection of a solidified kingdom 
stretching from the North Sea to Switzerland and 
possibly to the Mediten^anean, one that could hold 
the balance of power between France and Ger- 
many, contained elements of disintegration, latent 
at its foundation. It is clear, from a consider- 
ation of the Duke of Burgimdy and his position 
in the Europe of his time, that the materials 
which he expected to mould into a realm were a 
collection of sentient units. Each separate one 
was instinct with individual life, individual de- 
sires, conscious of its own minute past, capable of 
directing its own contracted future. That the 
hereditary title of overlord to each political unity 
had lodged upon a head already dignified by a 
plurality of similar titles, was a mere chance and 
viewed by the burghers in a wholly different light 
from that in which this same overlord regarded it. 
The fishers in Holland, the manufacturers in Bra- 
bant, the merchants in Flanders, the vintners in 
Burgundy, cared nothing for being the wings of an 
imperial idea. They wanted safe fishing grounds, 



After the Battle 455 

unmolested highways of commerce, vineyards free 
from the tramp of armies. And with their desires 
fixed on these as needful, their attitude towards 
the political centralisation planned by their 
common ruler, often betrayed both ignorance and 
inconsistency. At various epochs some degree of 
imperialism for the Netherland group had been 
quite to popular taste. In Holland, Zealand and 
Hainaut, it had been conceded that Jacqueline of 
Bavaria was less efficient to maintain desirable 
conditions than her cousin of Burgundy, and the 
exchange of sovereigns had been effected in spite 
of the manifest injustice involved in the trans- 
action. But while there was willingness to accept 
any advantages that might accrue to a people from 
the reputation of a local overlord, it was never for- 
gotten for an instant that his relation to his sub- 
jects was as their own count and strictly limited 
by conditions that had long existed within each 
petty territory. While Charles seemed to be on 
the straight road towards his goal, the people 
within each body politic of his inherited states 
were profoundly preoccupied with their own local 
concerns, and only alive to his schemes when they 
feared demands upon their internal revenues for 
external purposes. 

It does not seem probable, however, that the 
abstract question of the projected kingdom was 
ever taken very seriously among those to be 
directly affected by the proposed change. The 
bars interposed by his own subjects in the duke's 



45^ Charles the Bold 

progress towards royalty were obstructions to his 
successive steps rather than to his theory. In- 
deed, strenuous opposition to details was allied 
to a vague and passive acceptance of the whole. 
Moreover when the idea was phrased it was dis- 
tinctly as a revival, not as a novelty. The previous 
existence of a kingdom of Burgundy was un- 
doubtedly a potent factor in the degree of progress 
made by Charles towards conjuring into new life 
a reincarnation of that ancient realm. Yet it 
was a factor clothed with a shadow rather than 
with the substance of truth. Geographically 
there was very little in common between the 
dominion projected more or less definitely in 1473 
and any one of the kingdoms of Burgundy as they 
had successively existed. That of Charles cor- 
responded very nearly to the ancient kingdom of 
Lorraine. Franche-Comte was the only ground 
common to the territories actually held by the 
duke and to the latest kingdom of Burgundy. His 
possessions in Picardy and Alsace lay wholly be- 
yond the limits of either Burgundy or Lorraine. 
But the old name survived in his ducal title, and 
it was that name that lent a semblance of reality 
to this fifteenth-century dream of a middle king- 
dom as outlined in the duke's mind more or less 
definitely or as bounded by his ambition. 

In retrospect it is clear that more was requi- 
site for the realisation of the vision of the 
wished-for nation, than imperial investiture of 
a crowned monarch with sovereignty over a group 



After the Battle 457 

of lands. A modern writer has pointed out how 
infinitely subtle is the vital principle of a nation, 
one not even to be created by common interests. 
A Zollverein is no patria. An element of sentiment 
is needful, and an element of growth.^ The nation 
like the individual is the result of what has gone 
before. An heroic past, great men, glory that can 
command respect at home and abroad — that is 
the capital on which is based a national idea. 
To have wrought in common, to wish to accom- 
plish more in the future, are essential conditions 
to be a people. ''The existence of a nation is a 
plebiscite of every day, just as the existence of 
the individual is a perpetual affirmation of 
life." 

Now it is evident, in summing up the salient 
features of this failure, that a vital principle was 
not germinating in the inchoate mass. Charles 
himself never attained the rank of a national hero. 
More than that, with all his individual states, he 
never had any nation, great or small, at his back. 
Personally he was a man without a country. His 
father, Philip, was French, pure and simple, quite 
as French as his grandfather, Philip the Hardy, 
the first Duke of Burgundy out of the House of 
Valois, even though Philip the Good had extended 
his sway to many non-French-speaking peoples and 
was able to use the Flemish speech if it suited his 
whim. But that was as a condescension and as 
something extraneous. The chief of French peers 

» Renan, Qu' est ce qu'une nation. 



45^ Charles the Bold 

remained his proudest title ; his abiHty to influence 
French affairs, the task he hked best. 

His son was quite different in his attitude 
towards France. He minimised his degree of 
French blood royal. More than once he boasted 
of his kinship with Portuguese, with English stock. 
He had certain characteristics of an immigrant, 
who has abandoned family traditions and is 
proudly confident that his bequest to posterity is 
to outshine what he has inherited. Charles was 
not exactly a stupid man, but he certainly was 
dazzled by his early surroundings into an over- 
estimate of himself, into a conceit that was a tre- 
mendous stumbling-block in his path. He had 
not the kind of intelligence that would have en- 
abled him to take at their worth the rhetorical 
phrases of adulation heaped upon him on festal 
occasions. Yet this same conceit, this very self- 
confidence, gave him a high conception of his 
duties. At his accession, he showed a sense of his 
responsibilities, a definite theory of conduct which 
he fully intended to act upon. His very belief 
in his own powers gave him an intrinsic honesty of 
purpose. He was convinced that he could main- 
tain law, order, justice in his domain, and he 
fully intended to do so in a paternal way, but he 
left out of consideration the rights of the people, 
rights older than his dynasty. In his military ca- 
reer, too, at the outset, he evinced the strongest bent 
towards preserving the best conditions possible 
amid the brutalities of warfare. He curbed the 



After the Battle 4S9 

soldiers' passions, he protected women, and was as 
relentless towards miscreants in his ranks as 
towards his foe. In civil matters he exerted him- 
self to secure impartial equity for all alike. When 
he gave a promise, he fully intended to make his 
words good. It was only in the face of repeated 
deceptions of the cleverer and more unscrupulous 
Louis XI. that Charles changed for the worse. 
Exasperated by the knowledge that the king's 
solemn pledges were given repeatedly with no in- 
tention of fulfilment, he attempted to adopt 
a similar policy and was singularly infelicitous in 
his imitation. His political methods degenerated 
into mere barefaced lying, softened by no graces, 
illumined by no clever intuition of where to draw 
the line. From 1472 on, the duke's word was 
worth no more than the king's, and words were 
assuredly at a discount just then. A perusal of 
the international correspondence of the period 
leaves the reader marvelling why time was 
wasted in covering paper, with flimsy, insincere 
phrases, mendacious sign-posts which gave no 
true indication of the road to be travelled. There 
are, however, differences in the art of dissimulation 
and Charles never attained a mastery of the science. 
The adjective which has attached itself to his 
name in English in an inaccurate rendering of le 
temeraire which belongs to him in French. There 
were other terms too applied to Charles at different 
periods of his career. He was Charles the Hardy 
in his early youth, Charles the Terrible in those 



460 Charles the Bold 

last months when he tried to fortify himself with 
wine unsuited to his constitution, but at all 
times he might have been called Charies the self- 
absorbed, Charles the solitary. There have been 
many men more passionate, more uncontrolled, 
than Charles of Burgundy, whose personal magnet- 
ism yet enabled them to win friends and to keep 
them, as the duke was powerless to do. The failure 
to command personal devotion, unquestioning 
loyalty, was one of his chief personal misfortunes. 
Philip, magnificent, lavish, debonair, found many 
lenient apologists for his crimes, while his son re- 
ceived criticism for his faults even from the faith- 
ful among his servitors. How a reflection of his 
bearing glows out from the mirror turned casually 
upon him by Commines' skilful hand ! Take the 
glimpse of Louis XI. as he lures on St. Pol's mes- 
senger to imitate Charles. The Sire de Creville 
inspired by the royal interest in his narration about 
an incident at the court of Burgundy, puffs out his 
cheeks, stamps his feet in a dictatorial manner, 
and swears by St. George as he quotes the duke's 
words. Behind a screen are hidden Commines, 
and a Burgundian envoy aghast at hearing his 
liege lord so mocked. It is a time when St. Pol is 
trying to ride three horses at once and the French 
king takes this method to have Charles informed 
of his duplicity. "Speak louder" he says, "I 
grow a little deaf" and the flattered envoy repeats 
his dramatic performance in a way to engrave it 
on the memory of the duke's retainer. 




UJ /-s 

3 < 



QUO 
3 g ui 

3 E < 



After the Battle 461 

In thus touching on the traits of his former 
master, Commines does not show malice or even 
a disHke for the duke. He is much more severe 
about Louis — only he found the latter easier to 
serve. 

In his family life, too, Charles does not seem to 
have found any companionship that affected his 
life. He is lauded as a faithful husband to Isa- 
bella of Bourbon but her death seemed to make 
little difference. Neither she nor Margaret of York 
had the actual significance enjoyed by Isabella 
of Portugal as consort to Phihp the Good with 
his notoriously roving fancy. 

Thus at home as well as abroad the last Duke of 
Burgundy tried to stand alone. Perhaps his chief 
happiness in life was that he never knew how 
insufficient for his desired task he was and how 
the new art of printing, the birth of Erasmus of 
Rotterdam, were the really great events of his 
brief decade of sovereignty. It was his good for- 
tune that he never knew that no splendid 
achievement gave significance to his device: 
" I have undertaken it " — Je lay emprins. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

There is an enormous mass of literature bearing upon the 
later years of Philip of Burgundy and the brief career of 
Charles the Bold. Fairly adequate bibliographies can be 
found in Pirenne and Molinier (see list). The following list 
contains the full titles of the chief works to which direct refer- 
ence is made in the text but falls far short of a complete 
description of the matter, contemporaneous or critical, which 
has coloured the treatment of the subject. 

When extracts have been taken from matter quoted by 
other writers the reference is to the later books only. 

Archives curieuses de Vhistoire de France. Vol. i. (Paris, 
1834.) Contains Le cabinet du roy Louis XI.; Discours du 
siege de Beauvais, en 1472, etc. 

Barante, M. de. Histoire des dues de Bourgogne de 
la maison de Valois. Avec des remarques par le baron de 
Reiffenberg. 6th ed. 10 vols. (Brussels, 1835.) 

Basin, Thomas, 1412-1491. Histoire des regnes de Charles 
VII. et de Louis XL (Latin text). Ed. J. E. J. Quicherat. 
2 vols. (Paris, 1855.) 

Beaucourt, G. du Fresne, Marquis de. Histoire de 
Charles VII. 6 vols. (Paris, 1890.) 

Blok, p. J. Bene Hollandsche stad onder de Bourg- 
ondisch-Oostenrijksche Heerschappij. (The Hague, 1884.) 

Brantome, Pierre de Bourdeille, Seigneur de. CEuvres 
completes de. Ed. Ludovic Lalanne. (Paris, 1876.) 

BuDT, Adrian de. Chronicon Flandrice. De Smet 
Corpus chron. Flandr. I. (Brussels, 1837-65.) 

Bussiere, Baron Marie-Theodore de. Histoire de 
la ligue formee contre Charles le temeraire. (Paris, 1846.) 

Cent nouvelles nouvelles, Les. Edition revue sur les 
textes originaux, etc., par A. J. V. Le Roux de Lincy. (Paris, 
1841.) 

Chabeuf, H. Deux portraits bourguignons du XV^ 
siecle. (Dijon, 1893.) (M^moires de la soci^t6 bourguignonne 
de geographic et d' histoire. Vol. ix.) 

463 



464 Bibliography 

Chastellain, Georges, 1404-1475. CEuvres. (Ed. Ker- 
vyn de Lettenhove.) 8 vols. (Brussels, 1863-66.) 

Chmel, Joseph. Geschichte Kaiser Friedrichs IV. 2 vols. 
(Hamburg, 1843.) 

Chmel, Joseph. Urkunden ztir Geschichte von Osterreich, 
Steiermark, etc. [Monumenta Habsburgica.] 2 vols. (Vi- 
enna, 1849.) 

Clemart, Pierre. Jacques Cceur et Charles VII. (Paris, 

1873-) 
Collection de documents inedits sur Vhistoire de France. 

"Melanges." (Ed. M. Champollion-Figeac.) (Paris, 1843.) 
CoMMiNES, Philip de. The Historic of, Englished by- 
Thomas Dannett. Anno 1596. With an introduction by 

Charles Whibley. (London, 1897.) 

Memoir es de Philippe de Comines, 1447-15 11. Nou- 
velle Edition par Messieurs Godefroy, augment^e par M. 
rAbb6 Lenglet du Fresnoy. 4 vols. Ref. (Comines- 
Lenglet.) (Paris, 1747.) 

This edition contains many letters, documents, etc., 
collected by M. Lenglet du Fresnoy. Their accuracy 
has been impugned in many instances. Those cited 
have been taken with a view to the later criticism upon 
them. 

MSmoires de Philippe de Commynes. Nouvelle Edi- 
tion publi^e avec une introduction et des notes par Ber- 
nard de Mandrot. 2 vols. Ref. (Commynes-Mandrot.) 
(Paris, 1 90 1.) 

Memoires de Philippe de Commynes. Nouvelle Edi- 
tion, revue sur les manuscrits de la bibliotheque royale, 
etc., par Mile. Dupont. 3 vols. Ref. (Commynes-Dupont.) 
(Paris, 1840.) 
Cornereau, a. Le palais des etats de Bourgogne a 

Dijon. (Dijon, 1890.) (Memoires de la soc. bourguignonne 

de g^og. et d'hist. , v.) 

Courtepee, M. Description, gen^rale et particulibre du 

ducM de Bourgogne. 4 vols. (Dijon, 1847.) 

Deschamps, Eustache. CEuvres computes. (Paris, 1878- 

1904.) (Soc. des anciens textes fran^ais.) 11 vols. 

Des Marez, G. U organisation du travail a Bruxelles 

au XV' sikcle. (Bruxelles, 1903-04.) (M6moires couronn^s 

de I'acad. royale de Belgique. Vol. Ixv.-lxvi.) 



Bibliography 465 

Dewez, M. Histoire particuliere des provinces belgiques 
sous le gouvernement des dues et des comtes, pour servir de 
complement a V histoire generate. 3 vols. (Brussels, 1834.) 

DuClercq, Jacques, 1420-1501. Memoires. (Ed. Baron 
F. de Reiflfenberg.) 4 vols. (Brussels, 1823.) 

DucLos, Charles P. (Euvres completes de. Nouvelle 
Edition. 9 vols. (Paris, 1820.) 

EscoucHY, Mathieu d'(de Coucy). Chronique. (1420?- 
1482 +.) (Ed. G. du Fresne de Beaucourt.) 3 vols. (Paris, 

1863.) (Soc. de I'hist. de France.) 

Fredericq, Paul. Le role politique et social des dues 
de Bourgogne. (Brussels, 1875.) 

Freeman, Edward A. The Historical Geography of 
Europe. 2 vols. 3d edition, edited by G. B. Berry. (London, 

1903-) 

Gachard, L. p. Analectes belgiques ou recueil de pieces 
inedites, etc. Vol. i. (Brussels, 1830.) 

Gachard, L. P., Ed. Collection des voyages des souver- 
ains des Pays-Bas. 4 vols. (Brussels, 1830.) 

Gachard, L. P., Ed. Documents inedits concernant 
V histoire de la Belgique. 3 vols. (Brussels, 1833.) 

Gachard, L. P. Etudes et notices historiques concer- 
nant V histoire des Pays-Bas. 3 vols. (Brussels, 1890.) 

Gesta Episcoporum Leodiensium. (Mart^ne Coll. Vol. iv.) 
(Paris, 1729.). 

GiNGiNs la Sarra, le Baron de Frederic de, Ed. 
Depeches des ambassadeurs milanais sur les campagnes de 
Charles le Hardi, 1474-147 7. 2 vols. (Paris, 1858.) 

GoLLUT, M. LoYs. Les memoires historiques de la re- 
publique sequanoise et des princes de la Franche-Comte de 
Bourgogne. (Arbois, 1846.) 

Jeune, Huguenin. Histoire de la guerre de Lorraine 
et du siege de Nancy, par Charles le Temeraire, due de 
Bourgogne, 1473-1477. (Metz, 1837.) 

Kervyn de Lettenhove, le baron. [Ed. of works of 
Chastellain, Budt, etc]; see article in Bulletin de I'academie 
royale de Belgique, 1887, etc. 

Kervyn de Lettenhove. Histoire de Flandre. 5 vols. 
(Brussels, 1853-54.) 

Kirk, John Foster. History of Charles the Bold, Duke 
of Burgundy. 3 vols. (Philadelphia, 1 864-1 868.) 



466 Bibliography 

Laborde (L. E. S. J.), CoMTE DE. Les dues de Bour- 
gogne: Etudes sur les lettres, les arts et V Industrie pendant le 
XV" siecle, etc. "Preuves." 3 vols. (Paris, 1849-52.) 

Lacomblet, Th. J. Urkundenbuch fur die Geschichte des 
N iederrheins . 4 vols. (Diisseldorf, 1848.) 

La Marche, Olivier de, 1422-1502. Memoires. (1435- 
1488.) Paris, 1883-84. (Ed. Beaune et d'Arbaumont.) 3 
vols. 

Lavisse, Ernest. Histoire de France depuis les origines 
jusqu'a la revolution. Publiee avec la collaboration de MM. 
Bayet, Block, Carre, Kleinclausz, Langlois, Lemonnier, Lu- 
chaire, Mariejol, Petit-Dutaillis, etc. (Paris, 1893-.) 

The volume covering periods of Charles VII. and Louis XI. 
is written by Ch. Petit-Dutaillis, Professor at the University 
of Lille. (Reference used, Lavisse, IV".) (Paris, 1902.) 

Le Fevre, Jean, Seigneur de St. Remy. (Toison d'or.) 
(1395-1463.) Chronique. 2 vols. (Paris, 1876.) 

Le Roux de Lincy, A. J. V. Chants historiques sur les 
r^gnes de Charles VII. et de Loiiis XI. 

Lettres de Louis XI. (Paris, 1 883-.) (Eds., Joseph Vaesen, 
et Etienne Charavay, 

LooMis, Louise Ropes. Medieval Hellenism. (Columbia 
University, 1906.) 

Marte'ne, Edmund. Veterum Scriptorum et Monumen- 
tortim, Historicorum, Dogmaticortim, Moralium, Amplissium 
Collectio. Vol. iv. (Paris, 1729.) 

Memoires et documents publics par la societe d'histoire 
de la Suisse romande. Vol. viii. "Melanges." (Lausanne, 

1849.) 

Meyer," J. Commentarii sive annales rerum Flandri- 
carum. (Antwerp, 1561.) 

Molinet, Jean. Chronique (14^4-1 $06.) (Paris, 1824-29.) 

This is a continuation of Chastellain and is interesting 
especially for the siege of Neuss. 

Monstrelet, Enguerrand de (d. 1453). La Chronique. 
(Paris, 1 86 1.) 

Molinier, Auguste. Les sources de Vhistoire de France 
d^s origines aux guerres d' Italic. Vols, iv,, v., 1461-1494. 
(Paris, 1904.) 

Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft fiir alter e deutsche Ges- 
chichtskunde. Vol. xxv. (Leipzig, 1900.) 



Bibliography 467 

Oman, Charles W. C. Warwick the Kingmaker. 1890. 

Onufrius de Sancta Crock, Bishop of Tricaria. M^moire 
sur les affaires de Liege (1468). (Ed., S. Bormans.) (Brus- 
sels, 1885.) 

OuDEN BOSCH. Veterum scriptorum et monumentorum, his- 
toricorum, etc. Rerum Leodiensius. Op^is Adriani de vetere 
Buseo, 1343. See Martene. 

Pic QUE, Camille. Memoire. sur Philippe de Commines. 
(Brussels, 1864.) M^m. couronn6s par I'acad. royale de 
Belgique, vol. xvi. 

PiOT, G. J. C, Ed. Chronycke van Nederlandt — 1565. 
Vlaamsche Kronijk — 1598. Collection des chroniques beiges. 
(Brussels, 1836-.) 

Pirenne, Henri. Histoire de Belgique. 2 vols. (Brus- 
sels, 1903.) 

Pirenne, Henri. Bibliographic de Vhistoire de Belgique : 
catalogue methodique et chronologique des sources et des ouvrages 
principaux relatifs d, Vhistoire de tous les Pays-Bas jusqu* 
en 1598. (Brussels, 1902.) 

Plancher, Urbain. Histoire generale et particulibre de 
Bourgogne avec des notes et les preuves justificatives, etc. 4 vols. 
(Dijon, 1739.) 

Poictiers, Alienor de. Les honneurs de la cour. (In 
Sainte-Palaye, Memoires sur Vancienne chevalerie, vol. 2, 
pp. 171-267.) (Paris, 1781.) 

PoLAiN, M. L. Recits historiques sur Vancien pays de 
Liege. 4th ed. (Brussels, 1866.) 

Putnam, Ruth. A Mediceval Princess. (New York, 1904.) 

Ram, p. F. X. de. Documents relatifs aux troubles du 
pays de Libge sotis les princes-eveques Louis de Bourbon et 
Jean de Home, i vol. (Brussels, 1844.) 

Ramsay, Sir James H. Lancaster and York, a Century 
of English History (a. d., 1399-1485). 2 vols. (Oxford, 1892.) 

Reiffenberg, Baron F. A. de. Essai sur les enfants 
naturels de Philippe de Bourgogne. 

Reiffenberg, Baron F. A. de. Histoire de I'Ordre de la 
Toison d'Or. (Brussels, 1830.) 

Reiffenberg, Baron F. A. de. Memoire sur le sejour de 
Louis XI. aux Pays-Bas. Nouveaux mdm. de I'acad. 
royale. 1829. 

Reiffenberg, Baron F. A. de. De Vetat de la population. 



*^. 



468 Bibliography 

etc., dans les Pays-Bas pendant le XV ^ et le XV P siecle. 
Mem. de I'acad. royale in 4°. (Brussels, 1822.) 

[Also editor of various works.] 

RoDT, Emanuel von. Die Feldzuge Karls des Kilhnen. 
2 vols. (Schaffhausen, 1843.) 

Roland, P. Aubert. La guerre de Rene II. centre Charles 
le Hardi. (Luxembourg, 1742.) 

RoYE, Jean de. Chronique scandaleuse. [A journal of 
the years 1460-1483.] (Ed. Bernard de Mandrot.) 2 vols. 
(Paris, 1894-96.) 

RuHL, Gustave. U expedition des Franchiwiontoir en 
1468. Soc. d'art et d'histoire de Liege, ix. (Liege, 1895.) 

Rymer, Thomas. Foedera, conventiones, littercB et cujus- 
cumque generis acta publica inter reges Anglicu et alios quosvis 
reges, etc. 20 vols. Vol. xi. (London, 1704-17 16.) 

ScHELLHASE, K. " Zur Trierer Zusammenkunft im Jahre 
1473." I^ Deutsche Zeitschrift fur Geschichtswissenschaft. 
Band VI. (Freiburg, 189 1.) 

Selden, John. Titles of Honor. 3d ed. (London, 1672.) 

Snoy, Renier (Snoyus Reinerus). De rebus Batavicis. 
(Frankfurt, 1620.) In fol. 

Stein, H. " Olivier de la Marche historien, poete et diplomate 
Bourgogne." In m6n couronn6 etc., par I'acad. royale vol. 
xlix. (Brussels, 1888.) 

Stouff, Louis. Les comtes de Bourgogne et leurs villes 
domaniales. (Paris, 1899.) 

Stouff, Louis. "'Les possessions bourguignonnes dans 
la valine du Rhin sous Charles le t^m^raire." Annales de 
Vest. Vols, xvii.-xviii. (Paris, 1903.) 

TouTEY, E. Charles le temeraire et la ligue de Constance. 
(Paris, 1902.) 

Vander Maelen, Ph. Dictionnaire geographique de la 
province de Liege. (Brussels, 183 1.) 

Wagenaar, Jan. V aderlandsche Historic. 21 vols. (Am- 
sterdam, 1 749-1 7 5 9.) 

Wavrin, Jehan de (living 1465-1471). Anchiennes 
croniques de Engleterre. (Ed. Mile. Dupont.) 3 vols. (Paris, 
1858-63.) 



INDEX 



Abbeville, io6, iii, 143 

Agincourt, battle of, 19, 407 

Aire, 224, 271 

Aix, 357 

Alkmaar, 71, 285 

Alsace, 239, 254, 256, 260, 

370, 374, 386-391, 393, 

395. 397, 400, 401, 442, 

444, 456 
Alsace, tJpper, 248, 251, 254 
Amboise, 106, 272, 282, 293, 
' 298, 306 
Amiens, iii, 121, 289, 290, 

294, 298, 300, 311, 321, 

410, 411 
Amont, 43, 258, 259 
Andemach, 396 
Angers, 280, 305, 307 
Anjou, duchy of , 118 
Anjou, Margaret of, Queen 

of England, loi, 155, 156, 

188, 264, .265, 274, 279, 

280, 284, 285, 290 
Anjou, Rene, King of, 156, 

332, 367, 400 
Anjou, Yolande of, see Vau- 

demont 
Antwerp, 14, 180, 275, 337 
Appiano, Antoine d' (Anto- 

nius de Aplano), Milanese 

ambassador, 423 
Aragon, 38, 245, 295 
Argau, 248 
Armagnac, 223 
Arras, Bishop of, 70 
Arras, treaty of, 11-13, 15, 

36, 72, no, 221 
Arson, Jehan d', 282, 284 
Arthur, King, 225 
Artois, 12, 14, 156, 358 
Artois, Bonne of. Duchess 

of Burgundy, see Bur- 
gundy 



Atclyff, William, 325 

Ath, 406 

Augsburg, Diet of, 349 

Austria, 245, 246, 254-257, 
259, 386, 388 

Austria, House of, 394, 453 

Austria, Maximilian, Arch- 
duke of, see Maximilian 

Austria, Sigismund of (Count 
of Tyrol), 248; mortgages 
lands to Charles of Bur- 
gundy, 250-256, 329-331, 
371, 374; resumes sov- 
ereignty of mortgaged 
lands, 387-394, 415, 444 

Auvergne, Marshal d', 108 

Auxonne, 379 

Auxy, Jehan, Seigneur d', 0, 
17, 18, 26, 29 

Avesnes, 102, 103 

Avranches, Bishop of, 206 

Aydie, Odet d', 98, 305, 308, 
309. 314 



B 



"Bad Penny," the, tax, 372, 

373. 377, 380, 381 
Balue, Cardinal, 206, 207, 

211, 217, 224, 283 
Bar, duchy of, 396 
Barante, cited, 20 
Bari, Due de (Sforza), 413 
Barnet, battle of, 289 
Barre, Corneille de la, 103 
Barrois, 156 

Baschi, Suffren de, 441, 442 
Basel, 60, 248, 254, 353, 375, 

376, 3^7, 388, 392, 394, 

442-444 
Basel, Bishop of, 381 
Basin, Thomas, cited, 355 
Basse- Union, the, 375, 378, 

381, 386, 393, 395, 415 
Baume-les-Dames, 43 



469 



470 



Index 



Bavaria, elector of, 247 
Bavaria, Stephen of, 69 
Beaujeu, Lord of, 16 
Beaumont, chateau of, 291, 

317 

Beauvais, siege of, 31 1-3 13 

Bedford, John, Duke of, 
death of, 11, 72 

Begars, Abbe de, 299 

Belfort, 379 

Bellidre, Vicomte de la, 304 

Berne, 59, 248, 249, 352, 376, 
377. 392, 397. 400, 402,415* 
417,421,443 

Berry, Bailiff of, 61-64 

Berry, Charles of France, 
Duke of (Normandy and 
Guienne), heads League of 
Public Weal, 121, 124; 
character of , 1 2 5 , 126; Nor- 
mandy given to, 128, 142, 
197-200, 203, 217; won over 
by Louis, 205, 219, 220, 
282; Guienne given to, 281, 
282, 294; proposed mar- 
riage of, 294-298, 333; sus- 
picious death of, 302-304, 
307-310, 314-316, 334, 344 

Besanjon, 60, 252, 353, 379, 
380, 387, 388 

Biche, Guillaume de, 89, 105, 
206, 211 

Biscay, Bay of, 282 

Black Forest, the, 248, 254 

Bladet, 291 

Blamont, Count of, 393, 397 

Blaumont, Seigneur de. Mar- 
shal of Burgundy, 79, 81 

Boccaccio, 93 

Bohemia, 245-247, 348 

Bonn, 396 

Borselen, Adrian van, Seign- 
eur of Breda, 192 

Borselen, Frank van (Count 
of Ostrevant), 9, 14, 26; 
death of, 323 

Borselen, Henry van, 323 

Boscise, 314 

Bouchage, Monseigneur du, 
223, 295-297, 319, 452 

Boudault, Jehan, 47, 60 



Boulogne, 12, 128, 286 
Bourbon, Catharine of, see 

Guelders 
Bourbon, Duchess of, 60, 61 
Bourbon, duchy of, 118 
Bourbon, Duke of, 16, 60, 61, 

124, 206, 217 
Bourbon, Isabella of (Coun- 
tess of Charolais), 5^e Char- 
olais 
Bourbon, Louis of. Bishop of 
Liege, 137-140, 145, 146, 
212-214, 218-221 
Bourges, 11, 98 
Bouvignes, 139, 145, 148, 

Bouxieres, 447 

Brabant, Anthony, Duke of, 

14 
Brabant, duchy of, 13, 14, 32, 

156, 253, 358, 454 
Brabant, Duke of, 181 
Brandenburg, Albert, elector 

of, 349. 351, 352 
Brandenburg, Margrave of, 

247 
Brantome, Pierre de Bour- 

deille. Seigneur de, cited, 

308, 309 
Breda, 192 
Brederode, Gijsbrecht of, 69- 

71 
Breisgau, 248, 374 
Bresse, Philip de, 208, 209 
Brie, 219, 281 
Brisac (Breisach), 251, 372, 

373. 377. 379-381, 389, 

391 
Brittany, Duchess of, 295, 

296 
Brittany, duchy of, 160, 161, 

Brittany, Francis, Duke of, 
joins League of Public 
Weal, 114, 115, 118-120, 
124; ally of Charles of 
Burgundy, 197, 295, 296, 
298, 312-314; is recon- 
ciled to Louis XL, 203, 
210, 314, 315. 334 

Broeck, M. van der, 198 



Index 



471 



Bruchsal, 452 

Bruges, 2, 18-23, 38, 113. 
154, 161, 179, 187, 188, 
190—196, 251, 261, 268, 
293, 385, 404, 406, 428 

Brunette, the, 271, 272 

Brussels, 18, 29, 39, 142, 153, 
180, 184, 186, 243-245, 
325, 379, 429 

Bureau, Jehan, 98 

Buren, castle of, 320 

Burgundy, duchy of , 14, 156, 
254, 257, 352, 358, 384, 
453 » 454, 456; Estates of, 
427, 434, 435, 453 

Burgundy, Franche-Comt^ 
of, 14 

Burgundy, Anthony, Grand 
Bastard of, 5, 18, 123, 150, 
159-161, 183, 195, 323 

Burgundy, Baldwin, Bastard 
of, 282-284 

Burgundy, Charles the Bold, 
(Count of Charolais), Duke 
of, birth of, 5, 7; elected 
knight of the Golden Fleece, 
5-7; description of, 8, 30, 
165, 166, 339-341; ances- 
try of, 8, 183, 269, 270, 277, 
278, 291,292,410,457,458; 
imperial ambitions of, 10, 
II, 158, 187, 247, 251, 279, 
328-337, 347-361, 384, 
385, 398, 414, 415, 454- 
457; education of, 9-1 1, 
18, 28-30; weds Catherine 
of France, 16, 17; takes 
official part in public af- 
fairs, 18, 23, 24, 26; char- 
acter of, 30, 67, 158, 166- 
168, 181, 187, 277, 301- 
Z^3^ 310. 334, 340, 359, 
398, 407, 426, 440, 443, 
445, 458-460; first cam- 
paign of, 37-42; entrusted 
with regency of Holland, 
57, 58, 67, 68, 87; English 
sympathies of , 57, 167, 183, 
188, 264-267, 271-274, 
277, 278, 286, 288, 290; 
weds Isabella of Bourbon, 



57, 58, 60-65; judicial 
methods of, 68, 261- 
263 ; rejoices over birth of 
daughter ?>2,, 86; strained 
relations with his father, 
86-89, 96-99, III, 112, 
119; enmity between Louis 
and, 86-93, 96, 113,- 
117, 119, 205, 271-274, 
282-284, 303, 308, 309, 
314, 320, 347, et passim; 
Sit coronation of Louis XL, 
104, 105, 109; fears plots 
against his life, 11 2-1 17, 
282-284; joins League of 
Public Weal, 114-119, 
121; allies of, 114, 119, 124 
-126, 188, 197, 201, 203, 
281, 282, 285, 289, 292, 
293> 396, 399. 400, 403, 
410, 412-415, 422, 423; 
letters of, to cities, 121, 
220, 242, 243, 272-274, 
278, 282, 363, 364; to Louis, 
143, 144, 201, 205; to 
Duchess Isabella, 271, 272; 
to French council, 274, 
275; to Duke of Brittany, 
313, 314; to Sigismund, 
388, 389; to Edward IV., 

403 , 40 7 ; to Duke of Milan, 
413, 414; at battle of 
Montl'hery, 122-124, 449; 
armies of, 122, 140, 268, 

404, 405, 420, 437-439, 
445; dictates terms of 
treaty of Confians, 127- 
129 ; marches against Liege, 
129, 130, 140-142, 182; 
destroys Dinant, 139, 142, 
144-153; underestimates 
character and strength of 
enemies, 158, 226, 334, 
2>?>^, 370. 398, 418, 443; 
accedes to the dukedom, 
161, 170; invested with 
titles, 170-172, 181, 201, 
202, 244, 263, 382-387; 
unpopularity of, 169, t8i, 
184, 185, 187, 243, 254, 
269-271, 278, 279, 316- 



472 



Index 



Burgundy, Charles the Bold, 

— Continued 
318, 369, 370; punishes 
Ghent, 170-180, 182, 185 
-187, 244-246; reforms 
of, 183-1S5, 258; weds 
Margaret of^York, 183, 188 
-194, 201, 265, 286, 290; 
ducal state or, 184, 185, 
276, 278, 279, 282, 342- 
344, 346, 39S; demands 
aides, 201, 202, 268-271, 
404-406, 427-434; re- 
ceives Louis at Peronne, 
203, 205-221; crushes re- 
volt of Liege, 2 13-2 19, 227- 
234, 238, 241-244; makes 
treaty of Peronne, 219- 
221, 224, 235, 236, 281; pro- 
posed sons-in-law for, 250, 

251, 329-333, 335, 347; 
349^. 359, 360; signs treaty 
of St. Omer, 251. 253, 377; 
takes lands from Sigismund, 
251-261, 387, 38S, 393; re- 
lations of, with Swiss, 253; 
invested with Order of the 
Garter, 267, 286; Remons- 
trance presented to, 269; 
embassies to, 276-279, 
347, 360, 362, 363, 377, 
398; truces of, with Louis 
XL, 294, 298, 300, 301, 306, 

307, 315, 325, 395, 399, 
412, 415, 438; besieges 
Beauvais, 311, 312; re- 
verses of, 312-315, 427; 
acquires duchy of Guelders, 
320-328, 335, 336, 350, 
351, 364; negotiations be- 
tween Emperor Frederic 
and, ^ 328-334; interview 
of, with emperor at Treves, 
337-353, 364, 399; he- 
comes "protector" of Lor- 
raine, 347, 360, 367-370, 
400, 412, 414; interferes 
in Cologne affairs, 365, 
366, 394, 395; visits Al- 
sace, 375-380; troubles 
with Alsace, 389-394; 



besieges Neuss, 396-399; 
war declared against, 397, 
398, 400, 401, 415, 416; 
makes truce with Frederic, 
400, 401, 415; defeated at 
Hericourt, 400, 415; be- 
sieges Nancy, 413, 414, 
439-444; allies desert, 416, 
424, 445; defeated at 
Granson, 417-420; at Mor- 
at, 421-423, 435; convenes 
states-general, 42 9-43 5; last 
battle of, 444-448; death 
and burial of, 448-454. 

Burgundy, Cornelius, Bas- 
tard of, 5, 38 

Burgundy, David of. Bishop 
of Utrecht, 69-71 

Burgundy, Isabella of Por- 
tugal, Duchess of, 2, 4, 9, 
17, 19, 21, 24, 26, 58, 81- 
83, 88-90, 189, 190, 193, 
271, 322, 442, 461; an- 
cestry of, 8, 183; English 
sympathies of, 57, 62; re- 
tires to convent, 90, iii, 
139, 145, 147: burial of, 

385 

Burgundy, John the Fearless, 
Duke of, II, 14, 201; death 
of, 12, 155, 156 

Burgundy, Margaret, Bastard 
of, 56 

Burgundy, Margaret of York, 
Duchess of, 183, 188-195, 
224, 265, 286, 290, 293, 
325, 328, 396, 406, 430- 
434, 451, 461 

Burgund}^ Mary of (Duchess 
of Austria), birth of, 81, 
Ss : godfather of, 83, 84, 86, 
90, 298; 180, 189, 428, 429, 
431, 435, 451; proposed 
marriages for, 250, 251, 
296, 297, 299, 329-333, 335, 
347, 349, 359, 366, 453 

Burgundy, Philip the Good, 
Duke of, marriages of, 2, 
8; institutes Order of Gol- 
den Fleece, 2-4; children 
of, 5, 8, 18, 58, 51, 56, 57, 



Index 



473 



Burgundy, Philip the Good, 
— Continued 
6g, 282; alliance of, with 
England, 11, 57, 201, 264, 
265; signs treaty of Arras, 
1 1 -1 3, 15, 32; territories 
acquired by, 13-15, 156, 
157; suppresses revolt in 
Bruges, 18-23; wealth ^-^-^ 
magnificence of, 30, 31, 58, 
104-106, 108, 158, 160, 
161, 166, 179, 183, 184, 
188; crushes rebellion of 
Ghent, 33-44, 67, 94-96; 
gives Feast of the Pheas- 
ant, 46-56; plans crusade, 
47, 48, 51-60, 65, 66, 68- 
70; chooses second v/ife for 
Charles, 57, 58, 60-65; 
character of, 68, 88, 115, 
163-165, 171, 405, 428, 
457; interferes in affairs 
of Utrecht, of Liege, and 
of Cologne, 69-71, 81, 136- 
138, 363; hospitality of, 
to dauphin, 79, 80, 82- 
85, 87-94, 99, 100, 102, 
104, 105, 157, 161, 339, 344; 
influenced by the Croys, 
87, 97, 98, III, 112, 119; 
attends coronation of Louis 
XL, 103-106; illnesses of, 
109-111, 148, 152, 154; 
witnesses punishment of 
Dinant, 148-152, 154; 
death and burial of, 154, 
155.157-161,183,381,385; 
epitaph of, 156, 157; de- 
scription of, 162,163; popu- 
larity of, 163, 181, 243, 
460, 461 

Burgundy, Philip the Hardy, 
Duke of, 457 

Burgundy, Yolande, Bastard 
of, 51 



Cagnola, 107 

Calabria, Duke of, see Lor- 



Calais, 19, 65, 100, 266, 275, 

278, 286, 287, 325, 403, 
406, 411, 412 

Calixtus IIL, Pope, 70 

Cambray, 16, 358 

Campobasso, Antonello de, 
mercenary captain, 412, 
416,438; treachery of , 440- 

447 
Canterbury, 293, 325 
Casanova, Abbe de, 335 
Castile, Ferdinand, King of, 

75. 442 
Castile, Henry IV., King of, 

295 
Castile, Jeanne of, 295 
Cat, Gilles le, 49 
Catto, Angelo, 420 
Caux, 143, 314; Bailiff of, 160 
Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, les, 

93 
Cento Novelle, by Boccaccio, 

93 
Cesner, Balthasar, 356 
Chambery, 74 
Chambes, Helen de, 317 
Chamont, Sire de, 437 
Champagne, 219, 281, 313, 

396, 437, 438, 452 
Channel, the, 264, 266, 275, 

285, 404 
Charenton, 125, 127 
Charlemagne, 219, 225 
Charles IV., Emperor, 248 
Charles (V.) the Wise, King 

of France, 199 
Charles VII., King of France, 
reconciliation of, with Phil- 
ip of Burgundy, 11, 12, 
15-17, 36, no, 156; char- 
acter of, 20, 72, 77, 78; let- 
ters of, 61, 62, 96; refuses 
to join crusade, 65, 66; 
breach between dauphin 
and, 73-79, 81, 84-86, 89, 
91, 99, loi, 102; illness 
and death of, loi, 102; 
institutes standing army, 
117 
Charles VI 1 1., King of France, 

279, 297, 298 



474 



Index 



Charles the Simple, King of 
France, 210 

Charmes, 369 

Charny, Count de, 190 

Charny, Countess de, 190 

Charolais, Catherine of 
France, Countess of, 2,16- 
18, 23, 42; death and 
burial of, 17, 26 

Charolais, Count of, see 
Charles of Burgundy 

Charolais, Isabella of Bour- 
bon, Countess of, 58, 60- 
65, 81, 83, 86, 88, 89, 103; 
death of, 129, 461 

Chassa, Jehan de, 282, 284 

Chastellain, cited, 39, 40, 102, 
103, 120, 162-169, 174- 
178, 184-186, 188, 189, 
224, 277; death of, 169 

Chateau-Chinon, 61 

Chatenois, 377 

Chauny, 205 

Chesny, Guiot du, 295 

Chevelast, Louis de, 53 

Chimay, Count of, 438 

Citeaux, Abbe of, 384 

Clarence, Duke of, 265, 267, 
272, 273, 275, 285 

Clery, 319 

Cleves, Adolph, Duke of, 45, 
48, 151, 191, 326 

Cleves, duchy of, 348 

Cleves, Marie of. Duchess of 
Orleans, 19, 21, 23 

Cods, the (party name), 9 

Colmar, 375-378 

Cologne, 138, 353, 356, 357, 
394, 396 

Cologne, Robert, Archbishop 
of, 362-366, 394, 395, 398 

Colonna, Baptista, 447, 448 

Commines (Commynes, Com- 
ines), Philip de, enters 
service of Duke of Bur- 
gundy, 112, 113, 229, 230, 
275, 286; defection of, 302, 
316-319, 333, 334, 461; 
cited, 115, 117, 120, 126, 
127, 211, 214-219, 231, 
232, 281, 282, 284, 286- 



288, 290, 291, 300-303, 

307, 308, 333, 398, 408, 

410, 436, 441, 452, 460 
Compiegne, 80, 96, 218, 311 
Compostella, 416 
Conflans, treaty of, 128, 129, 

138, 139, 197, 201, 203, 

204, 219 
Constance, 59, 387; League 

of, 400 
Constantinople, 46, 47, 52, 55 
Cordes, Monsieur de, 235 
Corguilleray, 296 
Cornwallis, Lord, 20 
Corvinus, Matthias, King of 

Hungary, 246, 247 
Cosmo, 131 
Court, Jehan de la, 27 
Coutault, Monsieur, 258, 259 
Craon, Seigneur de, 298, 301, 

452 
Cret, Dion du, 48 
Crevecoeur, Philip of, 206 
Crevecoeur, Seigneur of, 16, 

271 
Creville, Sire de, 460 
Croy, A. de, 159 
Croy, J. de, 159 
Croy, Philip de, 17, 87, 94, 

99, 100 
Croy family, the, 7, iii, 112, 

119, 291, 317, 345 
Cueillotte, the (tax), 172, 177, 

178 
Cyprus, 245 



Damian, 131 

Dammartin, Count of, 76, 
77, 98, 227, 311; letters of 
Louis to, 221-224, 304- 
307, 408 
Damme, 191, 194 
Dauphine, 75, 76, 91, 438 
Dauxonne, Jacquemin, 6 
De Bussiere, cited, 340 
Decapole, Alsatian, the, 248 
De la Loere, secretary, 234 
Dendermonde, 89 



Index 



475 



Denmark, 245, 363 
Denys, Chaplain, 449 
Deschamps, Eustache, Lay 

de Vaillance by, 7 
Deventer, 71, 72, 79 
Dieppe, 143, 314 
Diesbach, Ludwig von, 209, 

236 
Dijon, 1-7, 161, 215, 258, 

260, 323, 379, 382-387 
Dinant, 139, 142, 144-147; 

destruction of, 142, 144- 

i53» 241, 3^2 
Dole, 352, 379, 385 
Dombourc, Jehan de, 25 
Dompaire, 369 
Dordrecht, 202 
Du Clercq, cited, 40, 68, 70, 

76, 77, 149, 152, 153 
Duclos, cited, 296 
Dunois, Count, 16 
Dunois, Francois, 223 
Du Plessis, Seigneur, 275, 280 



E 



Easterlings, the, 289 

I'Ecluse, 95, 189-191 

Edward IV., King of Eng- 
land, loi, 156, 157, 159, 
188, 264-267, 273-275, 
279, 293, 294, 396; aided 
by Charles of Burgundy, 
285-291, 293, 437; plans 
conquest of France, 385, 
396, 398-400, 402-404, 
406-408; character of, 
408, 410; makes peace 
with Louis XL, 408-411 

Edward of Lancaster, Prince 
of Wales, 279, 280, 285; 

, death of, 290 

Emeries, Antoine Raulin, 
Sire d' (Aymeries), 87, 

235. 433 

Engelburg, the, 372 

England alliance of, with 
Burgundy, 11, 288, 325, 
363, 385; with France, 143, 
245, 408-411; French pos- 
sessions of, II, 12, 65, 



72, 198, 287; commercial 
relations of, 145, 288, 294, 
396; wars of the Roses in, 
263-267, 272-274, 279, 
280, 284-292 
Ensisheim, 372, 373, 378, 

r 379, 389 

Epinal, 369 

Erasmus, 461 

Escalles, Seigneur d', 190 

Escouchy, Mathieu d,' cited, 

48, 54, 56, 70, 84 
Estam'pes, Count d,' 29, 80, 
, 81 

Etampes, 124 
Eu, 316, 396 
Eu, Count d', 115 
Ewige Richtung, the, 387 
Exeter, Duke of, 286, 288 
Eyb, Ludwig von, 349 



Faret (or Farrel), Guillaume 

340 
Favre, Jourdain, 308 
Ferrara, 363 
Ferrette, county of, 251, 254, 

394 et passim 
Flanders, 14, 32, 33, 156, 161, 

358, 395. 427, 434, 439, 
444; Estates of, 268-271, 
404-406, 428, 429; com- 
merce of, 288, 396, 454 

Flanders, Count of, 170, 171, 
176 

Florence 23, 192, 224 

Foix, Count de, 234 295, 
296 

Foix, Eleanor de, 296 

Foix, Gaston de, 121 

Forli, Bishop of, 443 

Fossombrone, Bishop of, 364, 

365 

Fou, Ivon du, 280 

France, alliance of, with 
Burgundy, 11, 12, 15, 245, 
325; waning power of 
England in, 11, 12, 65, 72, 
198; changed conditions 



476 



Index 



France — Continued 

in, 13, 72, 73, 264, 269; 
assembly of states-gen- 
eral of, 198-200, 203, 212; 
invasion of, 294, etc. 
France, Admiral of, the, 271, 

273 
France, Catherine, Daughter 

of, see Charolais 
France, Charles of, Duke of 

Berry, see Berry 
France, Jeanne of, 61 
France, Michelle of, see Bur- 
gundy 
Franche-Comte, the, 43, 76, 
^ 379, Z^S, 395.438, 456 
Franchimont, 229, 242 
Frankfort, 60, 65, 356, 357 
Frederic, elector palatine, 247 
Frederic III., Emperor, 15, 
246-248, 253, 393; char- 
acter of, 59, 336, 351, 353, 
359, 365, 401, 402; nego- 
tiations of, with Charles 
of Burgundy, 328-336, 

345-349, 394, 395, 399; 
meets Charles at Treves, 
336-357, 360, 364; de- 
scription of, 341, 342, 345; 
signs treaty with Charles, 
400, 401, 415 

Fribourg, 392, 438 

Friesland, 32, 69, 358; title 
of Lord of, 263 

Friesland, West, 202 



Gabelle, the, S3> 34, 44, 243, 

r. ^95 

Gachard, cited, 36 et passim 

Galeotto, 445, 446 

Garter, Order of the, 2, 159, 

267, 286, 379 
Gauthier, Dan, 239 
Gautier, cited, 7 
Gaveren, 37, 41; battle of, 

39, 42, 43; treaty of, 179 
Gelthauss, Johannes, 356 



Genappe, 88, 91-94, 99 

Geneva, 424, 425, 436 

Geneva, Lake of, 422 

Genoa, 23, 192 

Gex, 423, 424 

Ghent, 26, 31, 145, 261, 267, 
268, 325, 428, 451; rebellion 
of, 33-39, 55, 156; submis- 
sion of, 40-44, 46, 94-96; 
insurrection in, 170, 172- 
182; humiliation of, 182, 
185, 186, 244-246 

Gilles, Frere, 383 

Givry, Sire de, 423 

Gloucester, Duke of, 410 

Gloucester, Humphrey, Duke 
of, 19 

Golden Fleece, Order of the, 
instituted, 2-4, 157; as- 
semblies of, 2-7, 26, 31, 
55, loi, 187, 188, 190, 193, 
322-324; knights of, 5-7, 
20, 26, 245, 286, 322, 323, 
342, 401 

Gorcum, 113 

Gorlitz, Elizabeth of, 14 

Granson, battle of, 417-419, 
421, 438, 443 

Grave, 320 

GrenolDle, 10 1 

Grey, Jean de, 434 

Groothuse, Louis de la, 271, 
272, 285, 286 

Groothuse, Mathys de la, 171, 
174-179 

Guelders, Adolf, Duke of, 320, 
323; imprisonment of , 322- 

325 
Guelders, Arnold, Duke of 
69, 320-324; death of, 324, 

327 

Guelders, Catharine of Bour- 
bon, Duchess of, 322 

Guelders, Charles of, 324, 
326, 328, 367 

Guelders, duchy of, 320-326, 
335, 336, 350, 351, 358, 
453 

Guelders, Philippa of, 326, 
328 

Guerin, Jean de, 150 



Index 



477 



Guienne, Charles of France, 

Duke of, see Berry 
Guienne, duchy of, 72, 128, 

281, 282, 294, 403 
Guise, 396 
Guisnes, 65, 287 



H 



Haarlem, 202 

Hagenbach, Peter von, no, 
335. 336, 354; Governor of 
Alsace, 239, 254, 257, 260, 
370-381, 389. .39o> 394; 
trial and execution of, 390- 
392 

Hagenbach, Stephen von, 
393, 397 

Hague, The, 9, 113, 202, 263 

Hainaut, 13, 14, 32, 156, 235, 

239, 358, 433. 455 
Ham, 206 
Hanseatic League, the, 145, 

285 
Heers, Raes de la Riviere, 

Lord of, 138 
Heinsberg, John of, Bishop 

of Liege, 137, 139 
Hemricourt, Jacques de, 133 
Henry IV., of Castile, 295 
Henry V., King of England, 

12, 19, 155 
Henry VI., King of England, 
II, 12, 72, 99, loi, 285, 288, 
293; character of, 155, 264, 
286; death of, 290, 291 
Henry VII., King of Eng- 
land, 264 
Hericourt, 397, 400, 415 
Hermite, Tristan 1', 79 
Hesdin, 115, 224, 282-284, 

330 
Hesse, Hermann of, 364, 366, 

398 
Holland, 13, 14, 24, 69, 156, 

261,263,285,358,454,455; 
title of Count of, 201-203, 
263 
Holland, Jacqueline of Ba- 
varia, Countess of, 9, 14, 
26, 323, 455 



Holland, South, 202, 203 
Holland, William VI., Count 

of, 8 
Honfleur, 273 

Hooks, the (party name), 9 
Houthem, 170 
Howard, Lord, 411 
Hugonet, Chancellor, 276, 

291, 350. 428-433 
Humbercourt, Seigneur de, 

211, 213, 214, 291 
Hungary, 245, 246, 347, 348, 

363; King of, 351, 420, 

421 
Huy, 137, 243 



Innsbruck, 248 
Irma, Jean, 392 
Isabella of Portugal, Duchess 
of Burgundy, see Burgundy 



Jarville, 445 

Jarville, Sieur de, 427 

Jerusalem, 161 

Joan of Arc, 11 

Joinville, castle of, 368; 

treaty of, 369 
Jomini, 418 
Jougne, 418, 419 
Jouvenfal, Chancellor, 198 
Juliers, Duke of, 326 
Jura, the, 416, 424, 444 



Kaisersberg, 376 

Kennemerland, 71 

Kervyn de Lettenhove, 

Baron, cited, 218, 224 
Knebel, Johannes R., 376, 

379 



La Hogue, 403 



478 



Index 



Laisn^, Jeanne (Fouquet), 
La Hachette, 313 

Lalaing, Jacques de, prowess 
of, 27-29; death of, 39 

La Marche, Olivier de, cited, 
14, 17, 25, 26, 29, 30, 40, 
42, 47-5O' 54-56, 68, 70, 
84, 113-116, 120, 159-162, 
189-194, 232, 419, 424, 
425, 445. 450; knighted, 
120, 123; loyalty and zeal 
of, 159-161, 183, 245, 318, 
319, 327, 328, 423, 425, 
426 

Lambert, Bishop of Tongres, 

131, 132, 134 
Lancaster, House of, 264, 

278, 279, 286, 289, 291 
Lannoy, Jehan, Seigneur de, 

47 
Lanternier, Jehan, 4 
Laon, 223 
La Riviere, 437 
La Rochelle, 281 
Lauffen, 378 
Lauffenberg, 251 
Laurentian Library, the, 224 
Lausanne, 375 
Lavin, Etienne de, 365 
League of Constance, 400 
League of Public Weal, 118- 

129, 142, 188, 198, 204 
Le Grand, Abbe, 237 
Le Gros, Jehan, 283, 284 
Le Quesnoy, 96-98 
Lescun, Seigneur de, 295, 296, 

305 
Liege, description of, 130- 

132, 136, 145, 227; govern- 
ment of, 1 31-13 5; bishop- 
princes of, 131-133, 135, 

137, 212-214, 218-221; 
rebellion of, 138-140, 156, 
182, 213, 214, 219-221, 
363; aided by Louis XL, 

138, 140, 211-213; punish- 
ment of, 141, 142, 148, 153, 
182, 211, 212, 223, 228- 
234,237-241,253, 282, 312 

Liege, bishopric of, 348, 352, 
358 



Lille, 45, 47-56, 63, 65, 112, 
264, 268, 270 

Limbourg, 14, 358 

Livornia, 245 

Loches, 208 

Loisey, Anthony de, 238 

Lombardy, 245, 413 

London, 290, 396 

Longjumeau, 122 

Longueval, Hugues de, 53 

Loreille, Thomas de, 160 

Lorraine, duchy of, 156, 237- 
239. 337, 338, 347. 348, 
352, 357, 366, 367^ 379, 
387, 414, 415, 419, 456 

Lorraine, Estates of, the, 414, 
438 

Lorraine, Duke of, 124 

Lorraine, Nicholas of Anjou, 
Duke of (Calabria), 126, 
203, 332, 333, 366; death 
of, 337, 357. 366, 367 

Lorraine, Rene, Duke of, 
accepts Burgundian pro- 
tection, 367-370, 412, 437, 
444, 446; joins league 
against Charles, 400, 401, 
412-414, 422, 438-443, 

451 
Louis XL, King of France, 
17; rebels against Charles 
VII., 73-76; marries Char- 
lotte of Savoy, 74, 75; 
letters of, to Charles VII., 
78, 79; to Dammartin, 
221-224, 304-307, 408; 
to envoys, 295-301, 452; 
to Count de Foix, 234; 
to Lorenzo de' Medici, 297 ; 
to Duke of Milan, 237, 306; 
to Amiens, 300; to chan- 
cellor, 402; flees to Duke 
of Burgundy, 76-79; gen- 
erosity of Duke Philip to, 
81, 82, 86, 91-94, 96, 100, 
157, 161, 339; is godfather 
of Mary of Burgundy, 83, 
84, 86, 90, 298; tastes of, 
91, 92, 107, 108; duplicity 
of, 92, 100, loi, 105, 138- 
140, 142, 208, 211, 228, 



Index 



479 



Louis XI. — Continued 

231, 233-236, 271-279, 
281-283, 298-300, 346, 
412, 459, 460; accession of, 
102-104, 170; ingratitude 
of, 102-105, 109, 116; char- 
acter of, 106-109, 115,408; 
enmity between Charles 
and, 114-117, 333-335. 
344, 346, 348, 436; nobles 
in league against, 1 14-12 5, 
294, 312-315; policy of, 
1 18-12 1, 125, 198-201, 
203; signs treaty of Con- 
fians, 127-129; incites op- 
position to Charles of Bur- 
gundy, 146-148, 181, 189, 
204, 205, 211, 213, 215, 
281, 386, 387, 397, 416, 
426, 43 7, 443 ; breaks treat- 
ies, 197-201, 203, 281, 282- 
284; makes visit to Pe- 
ronne, 204-210, 213-219, 
244; signs treaty at Pe- 
ronne, 219-221, 223, 235, 
236, 283; ally of the 
Swiss, 249, 250, 397, 399, 
402, 403, 438; makes nu- 
cleus of standing army, 
268; aids Earl of Warwick 
and Margaret of Anjou, 
274-276, 290, 293; birth 
of son of, 279, 298; makes 
truce with Charles, 294, 
298, zoo, 305, 306, 315, 
395. 399, 412, 415, 438; 
suspected of death of 
brother, 307-310, 314, 344; 
rewards Beauvais, 313; 
wins over Edward IV., 408- 
411; rejoices in death of 
Charles, 452, 453 

Louvain, 79, 91, 92, 145, 
181, 243; University of, 

137 
Lower Union, the, see Basse- 
Union 
Lucerne, 376, 387 
Lude, Seigneur de, 452 
Luxemburg, duchy of, 14, 
32, 47, 156, 337, 358, 362, 



379, 387, 395, 438, 439, 

444 
Luxemburg, John of, 191 
Luxeuil, 379 
Luzine River, the, 397 
Lyme, 285 
Lyons, 76, 80 

M 



Maestricht, 212, 395 

Maine, 12 

Malhortie, 369 

Mandrot, Bernard Edouard, 

editor of Commynes' Me- 

moires, Jean de Roye, etc., 

cited, 309 
Manton, Seigneur de, 425 
Marchant, Ythier, 299 
Marck, Adolph de la, 86 
Marne River, the, 122 
Marquiez, George, 450 
Mas, Gilles du, 189 
Mathieu, 449 
Maximilian, Archduke of 

Austria, 247; proposed 

marriage of, 250, 251, 329- 

2,3'^, 335, 341, 342, 347, 

349, 369 
Mayence, 246, 349 
Mayence, Archbishop of, 247, 

343, 344 
Mayence, Duke of, 225 
Mazilles, Jehan de, 239-242 
Mechlin, 14, 180, 181, 363 
Medici, Lorenzo de', 297 
Metz, 2>2>(>-2,z^, 378, 445, 

448 
Metz, Bishop of, 445 
Meurin, secretary to Louis 

XL, 222 
Meurthe River, the, 445, 447 
Meuse River, the, 148, 151, 

152, 227, 228, 238 
Meyer, J., cited, 34, 218, 261 
Michel, the Rhetorician , 

cited, 58 
Middelburg, 25, 202, 261, 

272, 274 
Milan, 245, 414, 424, 436 



480 



Index 



Milan, Duke of, 99, 237, 305, 

306, 413. 436 
Mirecourt, 442 
Mongleive, 225 
Mons, 55, 318, 333 
Montbazon, 298, 300 
Montereau, bridge of, 11, 12, 

155 
Montfort, XJlrich von, 360 
Montgomery, Sir Thomas 

(Mongomere), 399 
Montl'hery, battle of, 120, 

122-124, 139, 149, 449 
Monulphe, Bishop of Tongres, 

130, 131 
Morat, battle of, 421, 422, 

424, 443, 445, 452 
Morges, 422 
Morvilliers, Chancellor, 112- 

117 
Moselle River, the, 339, 354, 

355, 362, 369, 439 
Moutils-les-Tours, 304 
Mulhouse, 248, 254, 373-3S0 



N 



Namur, 143. i44, 152, iS3. 
224, 227, 322, 323, 410 

Namur, county of, 14, 32, 
139, 145, 156, 358 

Nancy, 367, 369, 448, 45°. 
452; sieges of, 413. 4i4, 
416, 438-444; battle of, 
448-452, 454 

Naples, 245 

Naples, King of, 323 

Napoleon, 398 

Narbonne, Archbishop of, 
16, 117-128 

Nassau, Engelbert of, 323, 
342 

Nassau, John of, 191 

Nations, the, 38, 113, 192 

Nesle, 306, 308-311 

Netherlands, the, 38, 132, 
192, 269, 314; states-gen- 
eral of, 428-434 

Neufchatel, 313 

Neufchatel, Isabelle of, 51 



Neuss, 364, 396-399, 404, 

405, 413. 438 
Neuville, 445 
Nevers, 396 
Nevers, Charles, Count of, 7, 

112, 181 
Neville, Anne, 280 
Nice, 436 

Nimwegen, 326-328 
Norfolk, Duchess of, 192, 194, 

412 
Normandy, Charles of 

France, Duke of, see Berry 
Normandy, duchy of, 12, 72, 

109, 125, 198, 200, 271, 

273, 275, 281, 311, 312, 

403, 404 
Norway, 245 
Noseret, 419 
Noyon, 205 
Nuremberg, 86 



Obernai, 376 

Oise River, the, 122 

Onofrio de Santa Croce, 212, 

213 
Orange, Prince of, 76, 79, 228 
Oriole, Pierre d,' 298 
Orleans, 298, 316 
Orleans, duchy of, 118 
Orleans, Duke of, 19-23 
Osterlings, the, 192 
Ostrevant, Count of, see 

Borselen 
Oudenarde, 38 
Ourre, Gerard, 97 
Oxford, 266 



Palatinate, the, 363 

Palatine, Count, the, 254; 
the elector, 363, 364; Fred- 
eric, elector, 247 

Panigarola, Johannes Petrus, 
Milanese ambassador, cited, 
416, 417, 423, 426, 434, 
435> 437 



Index 



481 



Paris, II, 105, no, 124-128, 

197, 219, 237, 273, 293, 

403, 407, 409 
Paris, University of, 103, 125, 

368 
Paston, Sir John, letters of, 

290, 325, 399, 411, 412, 

419, 420 
Paston, John, the younger 

(brother of above), letter 

of, 194-196 
Paston, Margaret, 194, 290, 

411, 412, 419 
Pa via, 237 

Pellet, Jean, 254, 258 
Pepin, 131 
Perdriel, Henry, 237 
Perigny, 382 
P^rigord, 281 
Peronne, interview of Louis 

XI. and Charles at, 203- 

226, 283, 409; treaty of, 

219-221, 223, 237, 281- 

283 
"Peronne, the Peace of," 

224-226 
Perrenet, 80 
Petit-Dutaillis, Ch., author 

of Vol. IV", Lavisse, Hist. 

de France, see Lavisse. 
Petitpas, Jean, 178 
Petrasanta, Franciscus, Mi- 
lanese ambassador, 436 
Pheasant, Feast of the, 46-56 
Picardy, 12, 284, 314, 404, 

456 
Picquigny, 408 
Plessis-les-Tours, 106 
Pleume, 160 
Podiebrad, George, ex-king 

of Bohemia, 246, 247, 251 
Poictiers, Alienor de, cited, 

65, 81, 84 
Poinsot, Jean, 254, 258 
Poitiers, 293 

Poland, 245, 246, 348, 363 
Pont-^-Mousson, 439 
Pont de C6, 316 
Porcupine, Order of the, 20, 

22 
Portinari, Thomas, 192 



Portugal, 38, 270, 277 

Portugal, Alphonse V., King 
of, 442 

Portugal, Isabella of, Duchess 
of Burgundy, see Bur- 
gundy 

Pot, Philip de, 53, 63, 64 

Poucque, castle of, 37 

Prussia, 245 

Public Weal, War of, see 
League 

Q 

Quaux River, the, 42 
Quercy, 281 

Quievrain, Seigneur de, 317 
Quingey, Simon de, 301, 302, 
307 



Rampart, Jean, 9 

Ratellois, 239 

Ratisbon, 59, 60 

Ravestein, Madame de, 81 

Ravestein, Monseigneur de, 
89 

Renty, Monseigneur de, 240 

Rethel, 396 

Rheims, 16, 104, 170, 400, 
403, 407 

Rheims, Archbishop of, 16 

Rheinfelden, 251 

Rhine, the, 248, 355; Val- 
ley, 257 

Rhinelands, the, 388, 389 

Rhodes, 161 

Rivers, Earl, 266 

Roche, Henri de la, 308 

Rochefort, 425, 426, 436 

Rochefort, Sire of, 426 

Rochefoucauld, 224 

Roelants, Gort, 428, 429, 433 

Romans, King of the, 329- 
332 

Rome, 47, 70, 364 

Romont, Count of, 416 

Romorantin, 62 

Roses, Wars of the, 263-267, 
279, 280, 285-292 



482 



Index 



Rossillon, 225 

Rottelin, Marquise Hugues 

de, 18 
Rotterdam, 461 
Rouen, 143, 273, 275, 313, 

314 
Rousillon, 304 
Rouvre, 425, 436, 437 
Roye, 311 

Roziere, Malhortie de, 440 
Rubempre, the bastard of, 

I I 3-1 I 6 
Rubempre, Jehan de, 190 
Ruple, G,, 220 
Russia, 245 



Saeckingen, 251, 378 

St. Bavon, Abbot of, 41 

Ste.-Beuve, cited, 218 

St. Blaise, Abbe of, 254 

St. Claude, 76, 78, 425 

St. Cloud, 122 

St. Denis, 122 

St. Lievin, feast of, 170-179 

vSt. Michel-sur-Loire, 297 

St. Nicolas-du-Port, 442-444 

St. Omer, 16, 19, 21, 100, 261, 

270, 276, 279, 282, 402; 

treaty of, 251, 253, 329, 

373. 377. 379. 3^7 

St. Pol, Count of, 54, 97-99, 

122, 127, made constable 

of France, 128, 151, 153, 

203, 204, 206, 218, 281; 

treachery of, 396, 407, 408, 

413, 460; execution of, 413 

St. Quentin, 289, 298, 407 

St. Remy, Jean le Fevre, 

Seigneur de, 6 
St. Thierry, 104 
St. Trond, 140, 142, 153 
Sale, Anthony de la, 93 
Salesart, 239 
Salins, 419, 425, 426, 434 
Salisbury, Bishop of, 190,191 
Savoy, Charlotte of, marries 

the dauphin, 74, 75, 91 
Savoy, duchy of, 348, 357, 
358 



Savoy, dukes of, 74, 75, 100, 

424, 425 
Savoy, Yolande, Duchess of, 
208, 295; ally of Charles 
the Bold, 415, 416, 420, 
423; kidnapped, 424-426, 
436; rescued, 437, 438 
Saxony, Duke of, 351 
Saxony, elector of, 246, 247 
Schellhass, Karl, 356 
Schiedam, 202 
Schlestadt, 375, 376 
Scotland, Eleanor of, wife 
ot Sigismund of Austria, 
248 
Scotland, Margaret of, wife 

of Louis, the dauphin, 74 
Seine River, the, 122, 127,403 
Sforza, Galeazzo-Maria, Duke 

of Milan, 423, 424 
Sicily, 156, 245 
Sigismund, Archduke of Aus- 
tria, see Austria 
Sigismund, Emperor, 13, 15 
Sluis, 202 

Snoy, Renier, cited, 357, 358 
Soleure, 376, 412 
Somerset, Duke of, 196, 286, 

288 
Somme, towns on the river, 
cededto Duke of Burgundy, 
12, 128, 143, 201, 281, 396, 
399; redemption of towns 
on the, no, in, 117, 119, 
294, 300. 303. 309. 334 
Sorel, Agnes, 76-78, 81 
Soulz, Rudolf de, 335 
Spain, 38, 192 
Spain, King of, 453 
Stein, Hertnid von, 247, 349 
Stein, Rudolph de, 443 
Stephen, Martin, 239 
Strasburg, 248, 376, 377, 

392, 393, 414 
Strasburg, Bishop of, 254 
Stuttgart, 60 
Sundgau, the, 374, 394 
Swabia, 452 

Swiss, the, valour of, 249-2 5 1 , 
256, 381, 398, 418, 421, 
422; victories of , 397, 417- 



Index 



483 



Swiss — Continued 

422, 435; allies of Louis 

XI. 397, 402, 403 
Swiss Cantons, the, 248, 352, 

371. 372, 375. 2>^(>, 387. 
389; declare war against 
Charles the Bold, 397, 400, 
415,416,438-448, 451 

Swynaerde, 170 

Sylvius, -^neas, 59 



Talmont, Prince of, 317 
Tewkesbury, battle of, 290, 

293 
Texel, island of, 202 
Thann, 252, 372, 379, 389 
Therain, the, 311 
Therouanne, Bishop of, 69 
Thierry, 442 

Thierry, Monsieur de, 402 
Thierstein, Oswald von, 393, 

444 
Thionville, 362, 365, 369 
Thouan, Mme. de, 308 
Thouars, Guillaume de, 319 
Thurgau, 248 
Tilhart, secretary to Louis 

XL, 297 
Tongres, 140, 2 1 3 ; bishops of , 

130, 131, 213 
Tonnerre, Count of, 16 
Toul, 348, 439 
Touraine, 106 
Tournay, 198 
Tournay, Bishop of, 104 
Tournehem, 287 
Tours, 114, 198, 212, 283, 

284, 316 
Toustain, Aloysius (Tous- 

saint), 224, 237 
Toustain, Guillaume, 237 
Toutey, E., cited, 438, etpas- 

sim 
Trausch, cited, 340 
Tree of Gold, jousts of the, 

193 
Tremoille, Jehan de la, 17 



Treves, 336-354, 364, 369, 

^ 373. 385 

Treves, Archbishop of, 246, 

^349. 351 

Turn, 153 

Turin, 436 

Turks, the, capture Corstan- 
tinople, 46, 47, 55; pro- 
posed crusade against, 47, 
48, 51-53, 56, 65, 66, 70, 
78, 79» 345, 346, 348, 350 



Unterwalden, 418, 446 

Uri, 418, 446 

Urse, Seigneur d', 295, 300, 

301 
Utenhove, Richard, 178 
Utrecht, 69-71, 81, 137, 263, 

348, 352, 358, 363 



Vaesen, Joseph Frederic Louis 
(editor of Lettres de Louis 
XL), 295, 296 

Valenciennes, 323 

Valois, House of, 9, 12, 457 

Vaudemont, Yolande of An- 
jou, Duchess of, 367, 368 

Vendome, Count of, 16 

Venice, 23, 192, 353, 363 

Verard, Antoine, 93 

Verdun, 348 

Vere, 289 

Vermandois, 308 

Vermandois, Count de, 214 

Vesoul, 258, 259, 379 

Villeclerc, Demoiselle de, 77 

Virnenbourg, Count of, 6 

Visen, Charles de, 215 

Vosges, the, 252 

W 

Wailly, 322 

Waldemar of Zurich, 443 
Waldshut, 249, 251, 252, 378 
Walloon language, the, 136 



484 



Index 



Warwick, Earl of, 265-267, 
271-276, 279, 280, 284- 
290, 323; death of, 289, 
290 
Wavrin, Philip de, 17 
Wellington, Duke of, 210 
Wenlock, governor of Calais, 

275 
Weymouth, 290 
Wieringen, island of, 202 
Woodville, Elizabeth, 266 
Wuisse, Vautrin, 446 
Wyler, Hans, 417 



X 



Xaintes, 305 



York, House of, 264, 289 
York, Margaret of, Duchess 
of Burgundy, see Bur- 
gundy 
Ypres, 207, 220, 269, 271, 
272 



Zealand, 13, 14, 24, 32, 69, 
156, 201, 202, 261, 262, 
274, 289, 358, 455 

Zurich, 59. 376 

Zutphen, 323, 324 



Jl Selection from the 
Catalogue of 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 



Complete Catalo^vies sent 
on application 



Heroes of the Nations. 



A Series of biographical studies of the lives and 
work of a number of representative historical char- 
acters about whom have gathered the great traditions 
of the Nations to which they belonged, and who have 
been accepted, in many instances, as types of the 
several National ideals. With the life of each 
typical character will be presented a picture of the 
National conditions surrounding him during his 
career. 

The narratives are the work of writers who are 
recognized authorities on their several subjects, and, 
while thoroughly trustworthy as history, will present 
picturesque and dramatic "stories" of the Men and 
of the events connected with them. 

To the Life of each ** Hero" will be given one duo- 
decimo volume, handsomely printed in large type, 
provided with maps and adequately illustrated ac- 
cording to the special requirements of the several 
subjects. 

Nos. 1-32, each $1.50 

Half leather 1.75 

No. 33 and following Nos., each 

(by mail $1.50, net 1.35) 
Half leather (by mail, $1.75) ......... .net 1.60 

For full list of volumes see next page. 



HEROES OF THE NATIONS 



NELSON. By W. Clark Russell. 
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. By C- 

R. L. Fletcher. 
PERICLES. By Evelyn Abbott. 
THEODORIC THE GOTH. By 

Thomas Hodgkin. 
SIR PHILIP SIDNEY. By H. R. 

Fox-Bourne. 
JULIUS C^SAR. By W. Warde 

Fowler. 
WYCLIF. By Lewis Sergeant. 
NAPOLEON. By W. O'Connor 

Morris. 
HENRY OF NAVARRE. By P. 

F. Willert. 

CICERO. By J. L. Strachan- 
Davidson. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By Noah 
Brooks. 

PRINCE HENRY (OF PORTU- 
GAL) THE NAVIGATOR. 
By C. R. Beazley. 

JULIAN THE PHILOSOPHER. 

By Alice Gardner. 
LOUIS XIV. By Arthur Hassall. 
CHARLES XII. By R. Nisbet 

Bain. 
LORENZO DE* MEDICI. By Ed- 
ward Armstrong. 
JEANNE D'ARC. By Mrs. OK- 

phant. 
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. By 

Washington Irving. 
ROBERT THE BRUCE. By Sir 

Herbert Maxwell. 
HANNIBAL. By W. O'Connor 

Morris. 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. By WiUiam 
Conant Church. 

ROBERT E. LEE. By Henry 
Alexander White. 

THE CID CAMPEADOR. By H. 
Butler Clarke. 

SALADIN. By Stanley Lane- 
Poole. 

BISMARCK. By J. W. Head- 
lam. 

ALEXANDER THE GREAT. By 
Benjamin I. Wheeler. 

CHARLEMAGNE. By H. W. C. 
Davis. 

OLIVER CROMWELL. By 
Charles Firth. 

RICHELIEU. By James B. Per- 
kins. 

DANIEL O'CONNELL. By Rob- 
ert Dunlop. 

SAINT LOUIS (Louis IX. of 
France). By Frederick Perry. 

LORD CHATHAM. By Walford 
Davis Green. 

OWEN GLYNDWR. By Arthur 
G. Bradley. 

HENRY V. By Charles L. Kings- 
ford. 

EDWARD I. By Edward Jenks. 

AUGUSTUS CiESAR. By J. B 

Firth. 
FREDERICK THE GREAT. By 

W. F. Reddaway. 
WELLINGTON. By W. O'Connor 

Morris 
CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. Bv 

J. B. Firth. 



HEROES OF THE NATIONS 



By D. S. 



MOHAMMED. 

Margoliouth. 
CHARLES THE BOLD. 

Ruth Putnam. 



WASHINGTON. By J. A. 

Harrison. 
By WILLIAM THE CONQUER. 
OR. By F. M. Stenton. 

Other volumes in preparation are : 



MOLTKE. By Spencer Wilkinson. 
JUDAS MACCABiEUS. By Israel 

Abrahams. 
SOBIESKI. By F. A. Pollard. 
ALFRED THE TRUTHTELLER. 

By Frederick Perry. 
FREDERICK II. By A. L. 

Smith. 



MARLBOROUGH. By C. W. C. 
Oman. 

RICHARD THE LION-HEARTED. 

By T. A. Archer. 
WILLIAM THE SILENT. By 

Ruth Putnam. 
GREGORY VII. By F. Urquhart, 



New York— G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, Publishers— London 



^^g^^^^Wlvv^ I 



The Story of the Nations. 



In the story form the current of each National life 
is distinctly indicated, and its picturesque and note- 
worthy periods and episodes are presented for the 
reader in their philosophical relation to each other 
as well as to universal history. 

It is the plan of the writers of the different volumes 
to enter into the real life of the peoples, and to bring 
them before the reader as they actually lived, labored, 
and struggled — as they studied and wrote, and as 
they amused themselves. In carrying out this plan, 
the myths, with which the history of all lands begins, 
will not be overlooked, though these will be carefully 
distinguished from the actual history, so far as the 
labors of the accepted historical authorities have 
resulted in definite conclusions. 

The subjects of the different volumes have been 
planned to cover connecting and, as far as possible, 
consecutive epochs or periods, so that the set when 
completed will present in a comprehensive narrative 
the chief events in the great Story of the Nations; 
but it is, of course, not always practicable to issue 
the several volumes in their chronological order. 

Nos. 1-61, each $1.50 

Half leather 1.75 

Nos. 62 and following Nos., each (by mail, 1.50 

net 1.35 
Half leather (by mail, $1.75) .net 1.60 

For list of volumes %ee next pa^e. 



THE STORY OF THE NATIONS 



GREECE. Prof. Jas. A. Harrison. 

ROME. Arthxir Oilman. 

THE JEWS. Prof. James K. Hos- 

mer. 
CHALDEA. Z. A. Ragozin. 
GERMANY. S. Baring-Gould. 
NORWAY. Hjalmar H. Boyesen. 
SPAIN. Rev. E. E. and Susan 

Hale. 
HUNGARY. Prof. A. Vdmbdry. 
CARTHAGE. Prof. Alfred J. 

Church. 
THE SARACENS. Arthur GU- 

man. 
THE MOORS IN SPAIN. Stanley 

Lane-Poole. 

THE NORMANS. Sarah Ome 

Jewett. 
PERSIA. S. G. W. Benjamin. 

ANCIENT EGYPT. Prof. Geo. 

Rawlinson. 

ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE. Prof. 
J. P. Mahaffy. 

ASSYRIA. Z. A. Ragozin. 

THE GOTHS. Henry Bradley. 

IRELAND. Hon. Emily Lawless. 

TURKEY. Stanley Lane-Poole. 

MEDIA. BABYLON, AND PER- 
SIA. Z. A. Ragozin. 

MEDIEVAL FRANCE. Prof. Gus- 
tavo Masson. 

HOLLAND. Prof. J. Thorold 
Rogers. 

MEXICO. Susan Hale. 

PHCENICIA. George Rawlinaon. 



THB HANSA TOWNS. Heteo 

Zimmem. 
EARLY BRITAIN. Prof. Alfred 

J. Church. 
THE BARBARY CORSAIRS. 

Stanley Lane-Poole. 
RUSSIA. W. R. Morfill. 
THE JEWS UNDER ROME. W. 

D. Morrison. 
SCOTLAND. John Mackintosh. 
SWITZERLAND. R. Stead and 

Mrs. A. Hug. 

PORTUGAL. H. Morse-Stephens 

THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE. C 
W. C. Oman. 

SICILY. E. A. Freeman. 

THE TUSCAN REPUBLICS 
Bella Duffy. 

POLAND. W. R. MorfilL 
PARTHIA. Geo. Rawlinson. 
JAPAN. David Miirray. 
THE CHRISTIAN RECOVERlf 

OF SPAIN. H. E. Watts. 
AUSTRALASIA. Greville Tregar 

then. 
SOUTHERN AFRICA. Geo. M 

Theal. 
VENICE. Alethea^eL 
THE CRUSADES. T. 8. Afciw> 

and C. L. Kingsford. 
VEDIC INDIA. Z. A. Ragozm 
BOHEMIA. C. E. Maurice. 
CANADA. J. G. Bourinot 
THE BALKAN STATES. WUhma 

Miller 



THE STORY OF THE NATIONS 



BRITISH RULE IN INDIA. R. 

W. Frazer. 
MODERN FRANCE. Andrd Le 

Bon. 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. Alfred 

T. Story. Two vols. 
THE FRANKS. Lewis Sergeant. 

THE WEST INDIES. Amos K. 

Fiske. 
THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND, 

Justin McCarthy, M.P. Two 

vols. 
AUSTRIA. Sidney Whitman. 
CHINA. Robt. K. Douglass. 
MODERN SPAIN. Major Martin 

A. S. Hume. 
MODERN ITALY. Pietro Orsi. 
THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. 

Helen A. Smith. Two vols. 

WALES AND CORNWALL. Owen 
M. Edwards. 



MEDIEVAL ROME. Wm. Miller. 

THE PAPAL MONARCHY. Wm. 
Barry. 



MEDIEVAL INDIA. 
Lane-Poole. 



Stanley 



BUDDHIST INDIA. T. W. Rhys- 
Davids. 

THE SOUTH AMERICAN RE 
PUBLICS. Thomas C. Daw- 
son. Two vols. 

PARLIAMENTARY ENGLAND. 
Edward Jenks. 

MEDIEVAL ENGLAND. Mary 
Bateson. 

THE UNITED STATES. Edward. 
Earle Sparks. Two vols. 

ENGLAND. THE COMING OF 
PARLIAMENT. L. Cecil Jane. 

GREECE: EARLIEST TIMES TC 
A.D. 14. E. S. Shuckburgh. 



J? 

B»- 1.26 







'o ^**'.i^:''% co''.'i.;^'"''o V*^%j^.t.% 



'Av/.\ %/ ,^^^-. \/ .-mix ^-..^' 












- *:^ -^^ 



'O • » - /V ^, J, - » • » *v -;y. 



^•^ "o^^^*/ \*^-'\/ %'*^%0 













» , » * A^ Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 

i> « »• ' » ^ Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 





Treatment Date: .pp ^Ml 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 



O. **«Vo 



111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberrv Townshio. PA 16066 



